University spokesperson Joe Wrinn says communication—both internally to students and staff as well as externally to the media—is “everything” in the event of an emergency.

Vautin says communication on the local level is particularly crucial.

“It’s like a tree with branches. As the information moves out, there is potential for the chain to be broken,” Vautin says. “If the chain breaks down at the local level, not a lot can be done by higher officials.”

Riley says guaranteeing information’s passage from officials to the student level is difficult—making it is essential for students to take the initiative to seek out pertinent information.

“No matter how much information we put out, some students don’t receive it anyways,” Riley says.

In case of a gap in the information distribution, there are other systems to ensure that students are notified in the event of an emergency, he says.

“The College has communication networks that criss-cross to try to have a back-up, failsafe [system],” Riley says.

Emergency response for events like last month’s President’s Day snowstorm are largely mediated by individual schools and even individual professors according to their different needs.

Riley says the snowstorm, which dropped more than two feet of snow on the Boston area, did not call for the kind of uniform response measures outlined in the CMP.

“If there were a medical or public emergency, I would have no qualms about putting words out clearly and succinctly,” Riley says.

Ready, Set, Plan

Beyond discussing plans, IST members say detailed drills and exercises are going on behind the scenes to check for feasibility and keep the plan up-to-date.

Watkins says he helped to create a set of simulations to test preparedness for a range of different emergency scenarios Harvard might face—not only in internal response systems but in media relations as well.

One drill simulated a transformer explosion in which a Harvard Medical School dorm became “contaminated” with hazardous material, he says.

Harvard Business School conducted another exercise which created a scenario in which several students brought back an infectious disease to the University following a trip abroad, threatening an epidemic.