Student Union
Flood, Fire, Earthquake 101 for Foreign Students
Frightening scenes of residents speeding away from wildfires as their neighborhoods collapse in flames show how quickly a natural disaster can leave someone homeless.
What if you are an international student? Where do you go?
"We can use our facilities to shelter in place' until the disaster is mitigated, and we have procedures in place to acquire emergency food, water and shelter," Sheri Ledbetter, communications officer at the University of California-Irvine, said in an email to VOA.
"We also have plans to evacuate the campus and establish reunification centers to reunite students with family, or to provide aid to students to get them home in the event of prolonged campus closure," she wrote.
Last year, schools in California, North Carolina, South Carolina, Florida and Texas were impacted by natural disasters: hurricanes, wildfires, floods and earthquakes.
The University of South Florida's hurricane evacuation procedures in the vulnerable Tampa Bay region tells students to be ready for tornadoes, hazardous materials, floods and post-storm debris.
"Take your most important belongings, valuables and personal documents with you," the school recommends, including course materials.
Students should be more vigilant during hurricane season, which runs June through November. USF recommends students, faculty and staff choose evacuation routes: One that leads to a safe space within the country, and the other at a location outside of the storm's path.
USF suggested students take a list of items to shelters with them, including such basics as cash, an air mattress or blanket, but also more specific, such as any medications, passports and other paperwork.
Also, students can download a phone application — USF Safe — that provides quick access to emergency services on campus.
The University of California-Davis has emergency plans in place to help students prepare for earthquakes.
According to the University of California Guidelines on General Earthquake Safety, the first step for earthquake preparedness is to "identify the risk by determining if you live in an earthquake hazard area."
The guidelines on earthquake safety recommend maintaining a battery powered radio, flashlight, fresh batteries, blankets and first-aid kits.
Ledbetter said the University of California-Irvine distributes information about emergency preparedness on several platforms, including its website, the University Learning Center (UCLC) and in campus emails, as well as at incoming student orientation and tables at campus events.
"In the case where we have a natural disaster, we go to great lengths with our emergency planning procedures in coordination with local emergency responders," she said. "Campus preparedness messaging is an ongoing and continuous activity at UCI."
Biola University in earthquake prone La Mirada, California, participated in the "Great California Shake Out" in October 2019.
The event included an earthquake simulator that created a 7.1-magnitude earthquake.
"During an emergency, we can be highly flexible to accommodate the needs of our students, including international students. Ideally, students would remain in their respective housing units, supported for their basic needs [food, water, power, etc.]," Ledbetter wrote in an email.
"If housing units were damaged or otherwise unavailable, we have the capability to either establish shelters at predesignated locations on campus, or to work with the Red Cross to establish shelters for the student population off campus," she said.
In 2018, the University of California-Davis paused classes for two weeks over the Thanksgiving period because of wildfires, according to the California Aggie, a local/student/university newspaper.
"Students with family in the affected areas have said they felt the stress of the situation significantly," wrote the Daily Aztec, an independent school newspaper in San Diego, in November 2018, about students from San Diego State University.
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Police in Washington cleared a pro-Palestinian protest encampment at George Washington University early Wednesday, arresting 33 people, authorities said.
Arrests were made on charges of assault on a police officer and unlawful entry, the District of Columbia's Metropolitan Police Department said.
A congressional committee canceled a hearing on the university encampment Wednesday. D.C. Mayor Muriel Bowser and Washington Police Chief Pamela Smith had been scheduled to testify about the city’s handling of the protest before the House Committee on Oversight and Accountability.
University parents and faculty members gathered Wednesday afternoon for a press conference to condemn the handling of the protests by police and school leaders.
“The university clearly does not value the students at all and has endangered the safety of our children by unleashing officers dressed in full riot gear to assault and spray our children in their eyes with pepper spray,” said Hala Amer, whose son participated in the campus protests.
Police said they dispersed demonstrators because "there has been a gradual escalation in the volatility of the protest."
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Police started to shut down the tent encampment after dozens of protesters marched to GW President Ellen Granberg's on-campus home on Tuesday night. Police were called, but no arrests were made.
Speakers at the conference called for Granberg’s resignation because, they alleged, she refused to meet and negotiate with student protesters.
“You keep inciting violence and ignoring the students,” Amer said about Granberg in an interview with VOA after the conference. “It will just lead to more violence. You need to talk to your students.”
GW officials warned students that they could be suspended for engaging in protests at the school’s University Yard, an outdoor spot on the campus.
"While the university is committed to protecting students' rights to free expression, the encampment had evolved into an unlawful activity, with participants in direct violation of multiple university policies and city regulations," a GW statement said.
More than 2,600 people have been arrested at universities across the country in pro-Palestinian protests, according to The Associated Press.
Students are calling on their university administrations to divest investments from Israel or companies with ties to Israel. Demonstrators have gathered in at least 50 campuses since April 17, carrying signs that read "Free Palestine" and "Hands off Rafah."
Rafah is Gaza’s southernmost city, where most of the territory’s population has clustered. The area is also a corridor for bringing humanitarian aid into the Palestinian territory.
Israel seized the Gaza side of the Rafah crossing on Tuesday, while shutting off the nearby Kerem Shalom crossing, drawing criticism from humanitarian groups. Israel said Wednesday that it had reopened Kerem Shalom.
The nationwide campus protests started in response to Israel's offensive in Gaza that began after Hamas launched a terror attack on Israel on October 7, killing about 1,200 people and taking roughly 250 hostages.
More than 34,000 Palestinians have been killed in Israel's offensive, according to the Gaza Health Ministry. Israel warned it could "deepen" its operation in Rafah if talks failed to secure the release of the hostages.
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