U N I T R E S O U R C E S
EOC Town Officials and Staff Roles
TOWN OFFICIALS
EOC STAFF
Chairman, Board of Selectmen
Message Loggers (2)
Members, Board of Selectmen (4)
Message Runners (2)
Town Manager
Updater, Status Board (1)
Emergency Management Director
Radio Communications (2)
Fire Chief
EOC Security (2)
Police Chief
EOC Logistics (2)
Public Works Director
Public Information Officer
Health Officer
Reporters (3)
Chief Building Inspector
Director of Human Resources
(Welfare)
American Red Cross Director
Superintendent of Schools
As the project continued, the teacher noticed an ever-increasing level of student anxiety and misdirection. Therefore, the
teacher and the director arranged for a debriefing of the project’s progress. The students presented their ideas and findings to
a panel consisting of the director, educators, and the New Hampshire natural hazards specialist. The panel was able to give
students valuable feedback on their plan’s strengths and weaknesses. This day-long debriefing also allowed students a
chance to look at the project from a critical point of view, breathing new life into their design and implementation efforts.
At the beginning of the second week, the teacher finalized student sign-up for the roles they were to assume in a three-shift
rotation. Each student selected (1) a decision making role, where he or she would play an active part in the Emergency
Operations Center (EOC), and (2) an EOC staff role or a role with rescue equipment and media presentations. Each student
also had to identify one shift during which to start a journal, recording not only observations of the drill’s varied actions and
reactions, but also an introspective analysis of the project’s progression from start to finish.
The director coordinated the attendance of the town’s department heads, the school superintendent, the American Red Cross
representative, a utility company representative, and the media, as well as state and regional emergency management
officials. The director and the teacher finalized details and made arrangements for physically disabled and motivationally
disabled students, school and community rules implementation, lunch, and debriefing.
It’s D-Day!
At 8:30 a.m. on D-Day (Drill Day), students anxiously gathered materials and boarded the bus to Salem’s EOC, not knowing
quite what to expect. Upon arrival at the Main Street fire station housing the EOC, students heard building rules and
consequences, dropped off their coats, and positioned themselves for the first shift of the drill. With Salem’s youth in place
as fire and police chiefs, building inspector, school superintendent, radio operator, message runners, EOC security, and
newspaper reporters, the EOC opened and the drill began.
The script for the day explained that the EOC had been opened in response to an earthquake at 7:50 a.m., measuring 7.5 on
the Richter scale and centered in nearby Hudson, NH. With Salem’s adult department heads as advisors, students enacted
their plan, prioritizing needs, communicating with counterparts, and solving problems, all while using the town’s minimal
remaining resources as judiciously as possible.
An excerpt from the drill script details the crisis students were reacting to.
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