The Omnibus

Issue date: 2/16/07 Section: News

Media Credit: Zach Henderson Following the ice storm that hit the midwest Jan. 12, Missouri Governor Matt Blunt declared Polk County a natural disaster area. On Thursday, Feb. 15, Southwest Baptist University held a meeting to debrief those involved in the clean-up process and discussed prevention plans in the event of another storm.

Recently, Governor Matt Blunt declared Polk County an area of natural disaster. Still in recovery of the massive winter storm of Jan. 12, residents of Polk County and the Southwest Baptist University grounds crew have been working hard to restore normality in and around Bolivar.
The sheer destruction caused by the ice storm has caused residents of Polk County to re-think their plan for disaster preparedness.
When asked about the University's plan for disaster preparedness, SBU President Dr. C. Pat Taylor replied, "We have a plan. We've always had a plan. And, just like this ice storm, we thought we were well prepared, but it presented challenges that we'd never thought about."
The plan consists of members of a chain notifying each other either by either phone call or e-mail.
"The problem was [that] we had a problem where cell phones were down, our computers were down, and one of the things we're debating about coming out of this disaster is instead of having just a battery pack for our server, we need to get a generator for that, so we can at least have that up," said Taylor.
A meeting took place the evening of Thursday, Feb. 15, to debrief those involved with the crisis management team to discuss modification of the crisis management plan and to discuss how to make sure the devastation of the last ice storm will not be repeated.
In an event of natural disaster, the state government offers money to the victims of the disaster. However, that is not the case with SBU.
"We do not accept federal or state monies. So the FEMA grants will be coming to Polk County, but we won't be participating in that. Again, that goes back to the Baptist doctrine of separation of church and state. We do not take any federal money," Taylor said. "Now, we're sure working with our insurance company and we do have insurance money. That's why there hasn't been a rush to clean up some of the brush and some of the trees, because we're still negotiating with the insurance company."
Although the crisis management plan was put into effect on Jan. 12, there were several factors that were a surprise to those in charge of responding to such emergencies.
"I think we'll be a little more sophisticated as we review this plan and get ready for the next crisis," said Taylor. "There's no way you can think of everything, you just can't do it; and the next crisis, I'm sure, will present some unique challenges that we haven't thought about yet."

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