Appendix D: Plan Assumptions

The Cornell University Emergency Operations Plan has been developed using various assumptions about the nature, timing, and scope of emergency incidents and disasters and the availability of resources to respond to and manage those situations.  These assumptions include:

• Incidents can occur on any day, at any time, and with little or no warning.
• Incidents requiring University response and incident management activities may not fall within the traditional “emergency services” domains of fire, police, or emergency medical services.
• Initial emergency response capabilities may be inadequate to contain, control or manage the hazard or incident.
• Response and recovery activities may be beyond the responsibilities and capabilities of initial response personnel.
• Cornell University and the local community could be subject to more than one incident or disaster at a time.
• Incident management activities need to include management of the primary incident and management of secondary impacts caused by the primary incident.
• University and community resources may be quickly overwhelmed by large scale incidents.
• Mobilization and response of regional, state, and federal resources may take long periods of time.
• Local, regional, state, and federal resources may not be readily available to Cornell University during large scale regional disasters and emergencies.
• Communications systems may fail or have inadequate capacity to meet demand during a major incident.
• Shortages of support personnel and equipment can be expected.
• Basic utilities and services, including electrical, water, natural gas, telecommunications, and other information technology services may be interrupted.
• Buildings, infrastructure, and equipment may be damaged or destroyed.
• Existing facilities may need to be supplemented, repaired, or replaced to support campus response and recovery efforts.
• Normal suppliers may not be capable of delivering goods and services in a timely manner.
• Sabotage and criminal activities could disrupt response efforts.
• Severe weather, including heavy snow, ice storms, flash floods, high winds, tornadoes, droughts, extreme temperatures, and other weather-related emergencies and natural disasters will continue to occur regularly in Tompkins County and New York State.
• Incidents may require the suspension of certain campus services, functions, and activities and/or closure of roadways, buildings, and areas of the campus.
• Incidents may require temporary shelter facilities and food service operations for displaced populations or to support rest and feeding needs of first responders and campus staff providing services during the emergency.
• In a large scale medical, infectious disease, or mental health emergency the number of patients may exceed the capacity of the campus and/or community healthcare systems.
• Anxious or “worried well” individuals (patients who are not ill, do not have symptoms, and/or have not been exposed but are convinced they are or will be ill) may significantly increase the number of individuals seeking care or treatment.
• Spontaneous and unsolicited volunteers will require organization and management beyond the abilities of initial emergency response personnel.
• Reassignment of campus employees and use of temporary employees and volunteers may be necessary to supply adequate personnel for incident operations.

Section 11 Appendices