After the April 18 earthquake Ball State University is as prepared as it can be for these emergency situations.
Kevin Kenyon, chairman of the crisis management team and associate vice president for facilities planning and management, said the earthquake measured 5.2 on the Richter scale, which caused no harmful falling objects on campus.
There was an investigation of the buildings on campus for any damage from the earthquake, but no damage was found, he said.
The earthquake was centered in West Salem, Ill., and happened at 5:37 a.m., 180 miles from Muncie. The aftershock was felt at 11:15 a.m. that day and measured 4.5.
"I can't imagine we will have an earthquake severe enough to cause that much damage, but anything can happen," Kenyon said.
Tony Proudfoot, associate vice president for marketing and communication, said if there were an imminent threat by the time the earthquake had passed, Ball State would have used the emergency alert system. There were no severe threats so the university chose not to launch the system, he said.
This emergency alert system includes alerts by e-mail, text messages, voicemails to residence halls and campus sirens.
"Earthquakes are like any other emergency situation no matter how possible or unlikely the scenario," Proudfoot said.
Ball State tests the emergency alert text message system once per semester and the sirens are tested 11 a.m. every Friday.
Kenyon said he encouraged students to be informed about any hazards, including earthquakes.
"It is always in [students'] best interest to use this event as a learning opportunity," Kenyon said.
The most important way to be protected from these situations is to subscribe to the emergency text messaging system, Proudfoot said.
There is a flipbook with Ball State's emergency response guidelines that will provide information of what to do in any emergency situation, including earthquakes.
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