What’s on this page
- Our UT emergency gathering place
- Building coordinators and responsibilities, including a link to utility shut-off instructions
- Emergency cache
- Pets
- Preparing for an earthquake, including supplies to have at home
- What to do during an earthquake
- Links to other resources
Our UT emergency gathering place
We meet in the center of UT — on the Green.
Building coordinators
- Building One — Peter Hosemann and Milton Azevedo
- Building Two — Sylvia Tiwon and Bima Gunawan
- Building Three — Julia Thomas and Kris Albert
- Building Four — Gaspard Duchene
- Building Five — TBD
- Building Six — Ian Duncan
- Building Seven — TBD
- Building Eight — John Smail
- Building Nine — Barry Smith and Meryl Smith
Building coordinator responsibilities
- Know who lives in each unit in your building, hold contact information and know in advance who will need special assistance in case of an emergency, i.e., wheelchair users or others with a disability. Use and update, when needed, a diagram for quick reference.
- Distribute materials on emergency preparedness, including instructions on what to do in case of an emergency to each resident. (Or encourage your building-mates to print materials off this website or its links.)
- If an earthquake or other disaster occurs, Building Coordinators will make the rounds of residences to see if anyone needs help, and report to the Incident Commander, Martha Dickey.
- Know where facilities’ shut-offs are for sprinklers, gas, and electricity in case they need to be shut off. Instructions are posted where each building’s shut-offs are located.
Emergency cache

John Smail is the coordinator of the emergency cache, which is stored in the recycling area on the south side of Building Nine, and responsible for its maintenance, e.g., enough oil for generator, sufficient working batteries, etc. Additional supplies are in the tool shed.
For more information:
Pets
Along with your emergency items have ready for pets:
- Dog and cat kibble and water bowls
- Dog or cat kibble for five days
- A supply of any needed medications
- A carrier for EACH cat and/or a spare leash or harness for dogs
- Sheaf of newspapers and plastic pick-up bags
- Addresses and phone numbers of vets
- Pet’s vaccination records (if they need to be placed in a shelter).
Preparing for an earthquake

- Alert SF has great suggestions for making a plan.
- The Association of Bay Area Governments (ABAG), http://www.abag.ca.gov/, has a Home Quake Safety Toolkit that includes information on preparing your home (structure and contents) and your family. Bonus: A cool link to the shake table at UCSD.
- The City of Berkeley’s Office of Emergency Services, https://www.cityofberkeley.info/Ready/, has useful information.
Supplies
- Alert SF — Their Gather Supplies instructions are clear and complete.
- American Red Cross has a comprehensive list of items for their emergency preparedness kit. However, note that they have only a one- or three-day version and we might have to wait much longer than that for assistance.
What to do during an earthquake
- Alert SF has a comprehensive list of what to do during an earthquake, presented from different perspectives, i.e., if you’re indoors, outdoors, or trapped in debris.
Links to other resources — with specific suggestions
- Alert SF is a user-friendly, extremely informative site relevant to us in the Bay Area.
- American Red Cross’ Disaster Services website, http://www.redcross.org/services/disaster/, covers lots of bases.
- The City of Berkeley has a number of interesting links on its Disaster Resistant page.
- The U.S. Geological Survey’s Handbook for the San Francisco Bay Region has great overview information on topics ranging from the locations in the Bay Area most likely to shake the hardest to photos of damage from earthquakes since 1906.
- The University of California’s Preparing for the Next Great Earthquake has information on research efforts across the UCs.
- UC Berkeley’s Office of Emergency Management has specific earthquake-related information.
- Useful mobile apps for earthquakes and first aid and related apps can be accessed from the Red Cross website. (Note: You may have to access your phone’s app store to download specific apps.)