Preparing Your K-12 School or Institution of Higher Education for Natural Hazards

Natural hazards are events involving weather or the natural environment that may damage property, thwart education activities, or cause harm or injury. Examples of natural hazards include natural disasters (e.g., floods, earthquakes, tornadoes, hurricanes, wildfires, landslides or mudslides, tsunamis, volcanic eruptions) and severe weather patterns (e.g., lightning, wind, extreme temperatures, winter precipitation). Comprehensive emergency operations plans (EOPs) account for all possible natural hazards that may impact a K-12 school or institution of higher education.

Identifying which natural hazards to prioritize in the EOP is the responsibility of the core planning team. Analyzing historical data and sharing knowledge of past natural hazards that have occurred in the community helps core planning teams determine whether to address such hazards in the EOP. Based on this assessment, they develop goals, objectives, and courses of action to engage in before, during, and after a natural hazard incident. Core planning teams will then organize this information into threat- and hazard-specific annexes for each type of natural hazard.

The REMS TA Center offers a variety of resources to help you plan for natural hazards that may impact students, staff, and visitors.

Our Preparing for Wildfires at K-12 Schools and Institutions of Higher Education Fact Sheet provides key considerations for core planning teams when developing a Wildfire Annex. It also includes suggested strategies and resources for preparing the whole school community for wildfire incidents.

Our Preparing for Floods at K-12 Schools and Institutions of Higher Education Fact Sheet provides suggestions for evaluating flood vulnerability and developing a Flood Annex to strengthen your EOP. Planning teams can use the flood tabletop exercise in our Emergency Exercises Training Package to practice their Flood Annex and identify strengths and areas for improvement.

To prepare for earthquakes, check out our sample earthquake annex. This document provides an example of the content, format, and structure of an Earthquake Annex within a school EOP. We also offer a variety of training opportunities pertaining to earthquake preparedness, including Live and Virtual Trainings by Request, an online course, and a webinar. Our Great Earthquake ShakeOut Drills web page focuses directly on earthquake preparedness drills.

The REMS TA Center has also developed a natural hazards topic-specific resources page with a search engine for exploring federal agency partner resources related to planning for a variety of natural hazards, including lesser-discussed hazards such as animals and landslides.

For questions outside of these resources, feel free to submit a TA request to info@remstacenter.org. Our staff would be happy to assist you.