Preparing for a disaster can be as easy as a simple click.

Eastern students can measure their readiness for certain natural disasters, contagious disease outbreaks, hazardous material accidents or terrorism incidents through a survey being distributed on campus through Panthermail.

“Obviously, if everyone is prepared before a disaster occurs, such as knowing where to go before officials get there, more lives will be saved and disasters won’t have such a negative effect,” said health studies professor Kathy Phillips.

Eastern’s survey is a take on a national survey put on by the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) called the Citizen Corps National Survey, which measures vigilance of members in different households in the United States.

The annual survey started after events like Sept. 11, 2001 and Hurricane Katrina. The survey was also started because the government said people needed to take more responsibility in emergency situations.

Phillips said the Citizen Corps National Survey tries to get citizens emergency ready.

She said faculty members in the health studies department decided that a similar survey needed to be established.

The health department, including Phillips and health studies professors Sheila Simons and Rich Cavanaugh, wanted a survey because they had no evidence of research specifically concerning college students.

The only evidence found for preparing college students were nursing and pre-med students who have taken the survey, she said, but nothing for the general collegiate student body.

“Our survey is based upon the questions in the national survey,” Phillips said. “The purpose is to measure knowledge, attitudes and behavior is any certain situation.”

Three hundred sixty Eastern students have responded thus far.

Phillips hopes to use the research collected to make suggestions on becoming prepared through training and workshops.

“We hope to make a similar survey to send out to faculty and staff in the future as well,” she said.

Phillips said the main problem people have crisis management is not being ready. This usually is when panic occurs.

“We don’t prepare as the survey shows,” she said. “If there is a tornado or hurricane, we become complacent and don’t pay attention on what to do.”

Along with the survey, Phillips said the health department on campus had a training program called Citizen Emergency Response Teams (CERT) to prepare average citizens for emergencies.

The program is government-sponsored and gives people of crisis management, so they can assist search and rescue personnel and medics.

“Also, in our department, we have a brand new major called first responder and we hope more students want to become involved,” Phillips said. “This would involve training in becoming medics, firemen and disaster preparedness experts.”

Jodie Boys, a senior special education major, said she thinks taking the survey is important so there is not mass chaos in the area.

Catherine Starwalt, a senior special education major, agrees.

“If you are not prepared, you could cause harm to yourself or someone else,” she said.

Heather Holm can be reached at 581-7942 or haholm@eiu.edu.