:: Running from the Thought Police ::
Reality-Based Thoughts, Ruminations, and Unsolicited Opinions of a University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign
:: Sunday, April 02, 2006 ::
Duck And Cover
During this evening's tornado warning, there were a considerable number of bewildered faces on obviously out of state/foreign students who were just standing around in the hallway of the dorm.
This, of course, isn't safe for them, and in sufficiently large numbers could possibly be unsafe for people who do know what to do (since the untrained would be standing around instead of instinctually moving towards the basement).
This probably isn't much of an issue in the most of the undergraduate dorms, since the vast majority of undergraduates are from Illinois and other nearby states. At least, I don't remember it being so. In the grad dorms (where I live) and the properties owned by Family and Graduate housing (where the gf lives), where there's a higher number of foreign and out-of-state students, this is a problem.
Not that I'm knocking foreign students, mind. They're just used to the universe trying to kill them in other ways - tsunamis, tropical cyclones, earthquakes, volcanoes, etc. - and I'm sure I'd be as out of my depth dealing with those types of emergencies there as they are here.
I realize that those growing up in the Midwest and the Great Plains are trained from an early age on what to do when the tornado siren goes off, and it's hard to replicate that in an 18, 22, or 26 year old student who's new to the area. I also realize that there is a sign on the insides of every dorm room door saying what to do in case of this, that, and the other emergency - but the text is really small and unless you're the type of person who is intentionally aware of health and safety issues, you're not going to read it. Making adults do tornado drills is also problematic, since it'd be hard to force everyone to do so.
So, long story short, someone, (probably housing,) really should do something (what, I don't know,) to train foreign and out-of-state students on what to do when the tornado siren goes off.
:: The Squire 8:10 PM :: email this post:: ::
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