Lecture mentioned that in November of 2013 a report was made public detailing how Rutgers responded to Hurricane SandyLinks to an external site.. While I've been offered many anecdotes through student experiences, this report officially details how various elements of the college were impacted. While not quite the same, Rutgers has been criticized more recently for their response to large-scale weather events - a blizzard in 2018Links to an external site. is the most current example. In this example, Rutgers closed operations as the storm was intensifying, potentially jeopardizing the safety of faculty, staff, students and commuters.

As someone with a background in administration, I find postmortem examinations of these types of events to be not only useful but quite fascinating to read. As discussed in lecture, planning to have things go wrong is difficult, but necessary. However, in performing this type of examination, it can highlight issues that you might have missed or problems you never anticipated. In this case, Rutgers was faulted for poor and/or inadequate communication to students, staff and faculty. More specifically, not only was the technology problematic, but in some cases the content of the the actual messages was ambiguous or simply sent too late.

Using this article as a start, are there other organizations that have released similar reports after large-scale emergency events? How do these reports reinforce not only the preparation material covered, but the risk communication aspect as well? What are the bigger implications for both local and regional public health organizations in particular as it relates to communicable disease control?

https://www.nj.com/news/2013/11/hurricane_sandy_exposes_flaws_in_rutgers_emergency_response_report_says.html

https://www.nj.com/education/2018/01/rutgers_closes_campuses_amid_criticism_over_plans.html