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Contact: University Communications, (360) 650-3350

BELLINGHAM – Western Washington University plans to test its capability to quickly and effectively respond to an earthquake during a drill on Wednesday, April 22, that also will involve a test of its emergency steam whistle and notification system known as Western Alert.       

The City of Bellingham is holding a community wide exercise intended to engage willing partners in the process of developing and testing damage assessment capabilities during disaster events.

Close to 100 Western employees will participate in the on-campus damage assessment exercise.  Participants will simulate evaluation of damage to the WWU campus, and communication of WWU’s situation to the Bellingham’s emergency operations center.

The exercise will begin at 9:45 a.m. on April 22. At that time, the “Big Ole” steam whistle will sound for several minutes and a test message will be sent out to students, faculty, and staff via campus e-mail and cell phone text messaging. Test messages will also be posted on the University’s homepage at www.wwu.edu and the Emergency Information Web site at emergency.wwu.edu.

A text message is one of the most reliable ways to quickly provide emergency information.  Even if users do not regularly text on their cell phones, most phones are capable of receiving text information.  Western students, faculty and staff who have not yet registered to receive Western Alerts via text message are asked to update their personal information by logging in to the Web4u application at web4u. Employees may also call the Human Resources Department at 650-3774.

During the April 22 exercise, Western students, faculty and staff also are being asked to consider the steam whistle a reminder of the opportunity to practice their drop, cover and hold earthquake preparations. For more information see the Washington State Preparedness website. 

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