Education Abroad Program Name: RISK MITIGATION PLAN Program Dates: Form Prepared by (name and title): Today s Date: List the top three major risks, threats and dangers in each of the program location(s) (e.g., local natural disaster risks, violent crime, civil/political unrest, disease, pandemic, earthquakes, sexual assault, terrorism, etc.) and succinctly describe your planned crisis response to or for each key risk or danger. Add additional locations and fields as needed. Submit the completed form to Education Abroad via email (goabroad@uga.edu). List your planned response to each identified risk or danger (e.g., shelter in place, orient List the program location s key threats, risks and prepare students, faculty and staff in or dangers for each of the program locations advance regarding how to respond to natural disaster risks present in the program location, move program to alternate location) Key Threat 1. Key Threat 2. Graduate Research Mar. 10-21, 2016 Jan. 20, 2016 Cap-Haiten, Haiti Program Location 1: Disease, including Malaria, Hepatitis, Typhoid. Political disturbances and riots. I will be in a safe location with other UGA members. Many U.N. officials also stay at this location (compound). Hospitals and other health care providers have been identified in case of contraction of disease, Santo Domingo. I will enroll into CISI insurance coverage through USG. Recommended vaccinations have been received and antibiotics will be taken during the trip. Will not eat food of street vendors and use proper hygiene. Will review WHO & CDC recommendations on the UGA GoAbroad website. The compound I will be staying at is a very secure environment. NOONE travels alone. In case of a political uprising, the US Embassy is located in Port au Prince. Daily reports will be monitored for political disturbances. WIll enroll in STEP and monitor announcements from the US Dept. of State and will avoid visiting risk areas. Notify UGA via incident report or Police Dept. phone number. _
Key Threat 3. Natural disaster, such as tsunami, earthquake, etc. Key Threat 1. Key Threat 2. Key Threat 3. Develop a list of safe places in the area for each of the natural disasters. Assess situation, notify education abroad by submitting an incident report or calling the UGA Police Dept. Contact UGA/Department of State for further instructions in case evacuation is necessary. Always have UGA emergency contact information card on me. Compile and retain a "go to bag" of supplies (water, food, light, extra clothes, 1st aid kit, etc.) Program Location 2 (if applicable):
HELPFUL INFORMATION What is a Crisis? A crisis is an unstable or crucial time or state of affairs in which a decisive change is impending that could adversely affect or jeopardize the health and/or safety of your students, faculty or staff. Sample indicators of crises Alerts, warnings and/or orders of local police, local authorities or federal authorities that could reasonably lead to a recommendation for U.S. citizens to leave the country Recommendation of suspension/cancellation of program(s) by your institution or other similar institutions with programs in the same or nearby locations Travel warning issued by the U.S. Department of State and/or urgent Embassy alerts Declaration of war by, against or involving the host country Natural disaster in the city or region where the program or its components are based Significant terrorist activity in Center location Disruption of public utilities and/or services Wide-spread civil unrest, violence, looting and/or rioting A declaration of martial law in the location Health related epidemic, pandemic, quarantine or similar action. SAMPLE FIRST STEPS TO TAKE IN A CRISIS (INCLUDE YOUR OWN INSTITUTION S SPECIFIC AND UNIQUE STEPS IN YOUR OWN LOCAL PLAN) 1. Notify the UGA Police Department. When you connect with UGA Police, inform them of the nature of the crisis, your location, the identity and current location of your students and other relevant details available to you. UGA Police will connect you with Education Abroad staff. 2. Assess the situation and any threats or dangers it poses to your students, faculty or staff. a. What specific risks, threats or dangers do they face? b. What immediate steps can and should be taken to help reduce the harm, danger or threat level for our students and staff? c. Are the students and staff safer remaining in their present locations (sheltering in place), or in an alternative location (if so, where and how can you safely get them there)? 3. Locate/contact all students participating in your program swiftly and directly. a. Determine whether they are safe and accounted for as soon as practicable b. Determine and record their present locations c. Instruct them concerning where to go and what to do in light of the crisis. 4. Update Education Abroad s Director frequently during and in the wake of a crisis. Keep them informed of conditions on the ground as well as the condition, safety, state of mine and location of your students, faculty and staff on-site. Be sure to pass along updated information as it becomes available and conditions change.
5. Maintain a written log of the crisis. Include specific dates and times of all occurrences, actions taken and other relevant details, beginning with your first notice of the crisis and continuing through its completion. 6. Inquiries from the media should be referred to Education Abroad. Make sure all students are accounted for as soon as possible, including students who may be travelling independently, even if they are outside of the affected city, area or region. If your students are travelling independently, effort must be made to contact them according to the contact information they have left with you and by other available means Contact local authorities for updates if and as appropriate (e.g., local police, U.S. Embassy or Consulate) Monitor local media reports Where and when it is safe, assemble students for further instruction and briefings on the overall situation. The students should be advised as to the proper course of action. Identify in advance, and communicate to students in orientation, two alternative meeting points to be used in a crisis. One should be relatively near and the other should be at least several miles away. Contact the local U.S. embassy or consulate for further updates and assistance/recommendations, if and as you deem appropriate. Maintain close consultation with your local university partners, if any, on site as appropriate. If it is necessary to temporarily leave the area, city or region due to a crisis, then the students, faculty and staff will be taken to alternative location (specify location). Make sure on-site faculty or staff member will accompany them or be there to meet them). Time permitting, students forced to evacuate should be instructed to pack a small bag, their passports, their cell phones and chargers and any essential medication or other items. Note that many student health insurance policies include some coverage for evacuation of students in the event of medical emergencies and in the event of political upheaval and other similar events. Check with your student health insurance provider on these types of coverage in advance of travel. Should the situation deteriorate further in the aftermath of a crisis, depending on recommendations of local/federal authorities, U.S. Department of State and/or decisions made by appropriate representatives on your home campus, your students may need to be taken to one of the above listed rendezvous points, or to an alternative location where they can shelter in place for a period of time or until students can be evacuated. Have a plan for how to get the students there, as well as access to financial resources to cover the cost thereof (e.g. University credit card with sufficient limits and faculty or staff on site being given sufficient cash to cover expected costs in an evacuation).
To assist your local crisis management efforts Conduct an emergency drill for all students at the start of the program or academic term abroad. To do so, call, text, email or otherwise attempt to reach all of their students during the drill. Calls and messages to all students in a drill should request an immediate answer. Failure to respond, or long delays in responding, may result in a drill being repeated for those students (or, in the most egregious cases, for all students on the program). Persistent failure to participate in drills or crisis response may result in disciplinary action, subject to your institution s disciplinary rules and procedures. On-site at the start of the program or term, review this emergency plan with students (generally during orientation), keep this plan updated as needed, and train new and existing staff and/or faculty on this plan as needed. It is a good idea that all students who are U.S. citizens be registered, pre-departure, with the U.S. embassy or consulate in the host country via the STEP program, which can be found online. Students who are not U.S.-citizens could be asked to register with their home country s embassy or consulate in the host country, if applicable. It is a good idea to make two copies of the picture page of each student s passport (as well as faculty and staff members passports), with 1 copy of each passport held by the program leader on-site and another copy kept back on the home campus. These copies will prove helpful in case the passport is lost or stolen. The students should each bring a copy of their passport in addition to the original to keep in their own possession, too. We also had students scan their passports and email them to themselves. Consider requiring that all students have cell phones with them throughout their time abroad that function in the country or countries of travel. Collect their cell numbers and test them at the start of the program to make sure you have correct working numbers for every student. Once on site, ask the students to keep their cell phones with them at all times, turned on and well charged. They should also be instructed that they are expected to respond immediately to calls, texts or emails from you or other faculty or staff members as they may relate to crises, emergencies or crisis drills. When traveling independently, it is a best practice to require all students to leave their travel itineraries with contact phone numbers and addresses (if available) for the period when they will be travelling. Some institutions have the students instead enter their travel details into an on-line system. Education Abroad provides all students with a laminated wallet-size emergency contact information card with on-campus number they can call in an emergency (24/7) if they are unable to reach anyone on-site as well as space for individual programs to fill in the local emergency numbers and contact information for on-site faculty and staff members. On-site faculty or staff should maintain an updated list of all on-site student addresses, as well as their home numbers, cell phone numbers, e-mail addresses (in both electronic format and in hard copy format in case electricity is out or there is no computer access due to the crisis). All on-site faculty and staff should have mobile phones that work at the program site(s); and they should carry with them at all times all of the contact information for their colleagues and students.
All on-site faculty and staff members should have and carry with them at all times emergency numbers and full contact information for key staff members on the home campus who can assist them with various types of student emergencies, incidents or crises. Students, faculty and staff should have reasonable access to e-mail, internet, international newspapers and other media while abroad so they can stay abreast of potentially emergent situations, circumstances, emergencies or crises. They should also be prepared for circumstances where email, computer and telecommunications systems are unavailable during or in the wake of a crisis. In an emergent situation involving civil or political unrest (or other similar issues) it can be helpful for faculty and staff to discuss the local political situation and latest developments with students (in or outside of class) to help create and augment awareness, understanding, alertness and to proactively defuse anxiety, unfounded rumors and panic.