May 29, 2014

To the University Community,

After almost ten years since the last hurricane impacted South Florida, it might be easy for some to become complacent—but that is not the way we do business at the University of Miami.

Last week our emergency management team conducted numerous emergency exercises, in coordination with our state and local partners, testing our procedures to respond to a major hurricane and the recovery process for restoring essential operations to all our campuses and medical facilities. Based on current Miami-Dade County storm-surge planning zones, members of the University’s Crisis Decision Team successfully implemented our plan to evacuate the Coral Gables and Rosenstiel School campuses and protect the Miller School campus for the safety of our students, faculty, staff, and patients.

Earlier this week, the National Weather Service designated the University of Miami as “StormReady.” The StormReady program recognizes our proactive approach to improving operations during hazardous weather and to promoting public awareness, which saves lives and protects property from severe weather. Our StormReady status was made possible by the work of our emergency management team and meteorology students and faculty. To learn more about this special designation, go to www.miami.edu/stormready.

The beginning of hurricane season on June 1 is a reminder that we can never overprepare for hurricanes or any other disaster we might face. I encourage everyone to take these three simple steps to prepare for this year.

• Watch the University’s hurricane preparedness video and become familiar with other available resources and information at miami.edu/hurricane-prepare.
• Download a copy of the University’s Emergency Guide at miami.edu/emergency-guide, or access this information via your mobile device at miami.edu/mobile/emergency or by pressing the emergency button within our mobile app.
• Update your contact information so the University can stay in touch with you in case of an emergency.
  • Employees should update their personal, emergency contact, and work address information in myUM. Go to myUM and click on “Personal, Address and Emergency/Evacuation Information.” Be sure to provide contact information for someone who will know how to reach you in the event of an emergency. Students need to ensure their emergency contact information is accurate in CaneLink by logging in to canelink.miami.edu and clicking on the “Emergency Information” link under the Personal Information section (top left-hand side of the CaneLink home page.)

If you have questions or additional needs regarding how to better prepare for emergencies, go to miami.edu/prepare, or contact the Office of Emergency Management at 305-284-8005 or oem@miami.edu.

Now is the time to prepare!