BMCC recently became one of only 13 colleges across the nation—and the only one in New York City—to be awarded a U.S. Department of Education grant to upgrade its level of emergency preparedness.
BMCC will use the Emergency Management for Higher Education grant over the next 18 months “to establish an emergency action plan that improves our ability to prepare for and respond to major emergencies, including terrorist attacks, natural disasters, campus violence and disease outbreaks,” says Sunil Gupta, who wrote the grant and is Dean of Continuing Education and Workforce Development at BMCC. The BMCC initiative will serve to address not only the safety of its students, he adds, “but the communities surrounding our campus and New York’s infrastructure.”
“A tragic distinction”
Adding significance to BMCC’s inclusion in the grant program “is our tragic distinction of being the only campus in the U.S. to lose a building in a terrorist act,” says Gupta, referring to the September 11 destruction of Fiterman Hall. Following the 2001 attack, BMCC was transformed into a command center for first responders and served as a host to the Port Authority Police Department, the New York Fire Department, the U.S. Army, emergency medical units, FEMA and the Red Cross. “We also developed a number of new protocols and procedures—including evacuation plans and upgrades in our HVAC systems to protect them against chemical and biological contamination,” Gupta says.
The grant will be used to create a campus-wide emergency management plan that is compliant with the National Incident Management System, developed by the Department of Homeland Security. The college will also look to strengthen its relationship with the local Community Emergency Response Team program, offering classes to students and the surrounding community in such disciplines as fire suppression strategies, medical responses to disaster, and light search-and-rescue methods. In addition, BMCC will continue offering courses in first Aid, CPR, automated external defibrillation and business continuity.
Downtown’s vulnerability
In point of fact, Lower Manhattan, where BMCC is located, plays a particularly crucial role in any emergency response situation. It has the world’s single largest concentration of transit facilities, tunnels, bridges and roads, and is home to a number of federal and local law enforcement agencies. Beyond being a major target for terrorism, the area is also vulnerable to natural disasters, such as flooding, because of its low elevation.
“Unfortunately, we know all too well the importance of having a well-coordinated plan in place and people who are highly trained to deal with unexpected catastrophes,” says BMCC President Antonio Pérez. “As horrible as our experience was on September 11, we also learned valuable lessons that can be applied to a variety of emergencies. Through the grant, we plan to build on these lessons and share them with the larger academic community, so that more lives will be saved in the event of a disaster.”
Online clearinghouse
Those lessons will form the basis of an online clearinghouse developed by BMCC—an electronic repository of lessons learned, tabletop exercises and emergency scenarios that other colleges can use to assess their own level preparedness and identify areas for improvement.
“Since 9/11, federal, state and local government agencies have invested heavily in putting sophisticated emergency management procedures in place, but until now the college community has been largely left behind,” Gupta says. “This grant program should go a long way toward closing that gap.”
