In light of recent events, the term disaster awareness has become a frequent and urgent topic of discussion among students and our university’s faculty. Disaster awareness, for our campus, concerns both natural and man-made disasters that could potentially be a threat to the well being of our community. Students on campus have weighed in on how prepared the city of San Bernardino and this college institution is.
Rigo Orozco, 4th-year student, 24 years old:
“The more people we have aware the better. Knowledge is the most important thing that we have. We should have gun safety training in the same way that we have sexual harassment awareness training each year. What we have is good, but it could be better.”
Emely Chavez, 1st-year student, 17 years old:
“I only know of the earthquake drill, but we should have a thing like the yearly sexual violence training. I don’t feel as safe as I would like to. In high school there were drills, but not really in college. These kinds of things are not discussed until they actually happen.”
Wyatt Miera, CSUSB Starbucks branch Employee, 22 years old:
“Honestly, it does not bug me. If it happens, it happens. I’m not going to be terrified of events like these because that is what they want you to be.”
Mai Temraz, 3rd-year MBA, 32 years old:
“I’m from Palestine. I have been through three wars, so I know disasters can be natural or caused by humans. I was only recently told about the earthquakes here because I arrived in the country last September. My son is at school and he’s had several trainings. I’m a Ham radio operator and we have our own network, but I don’t know how prepared we can be.”
Jesse Ibarra, a fourth-year student, 21 years old:
“I feel safe on campus. They handled [the San Bernardino 2015 shooting] it really quickly, so I feel like if a shooter came on campus, they’d be able to handle that one just as quickly if not quicker.”
Gabriela Manzanares:
“I don’t feel prepared for an unnatural disaster because of the events that have happened since I’ve been here, like the recent shootings. I was freaking out, thinking ‘what’s going to happen?’”
Annette Gamino, 22 years old, a third-year student:
“I feel like just giving us a time and a date… it’s really not going to make a difference… Our campus should host more workshops, or maybe even provide free supplies to students….”
Alex Dasilva, a fifth-year student, 22 years old:
“I feel safer on campus than some other large gathering of people, because we won’t be a likely target.”
Kate Sumampong, 18 years old, a first year:
“I don’t feel comfortable with just anyone being able to walk onto on campus.”
Julissa Diaz-Reyes, 20 years old, a visitor on campus:
“I’m more prepared in a negative way… now I’m more aware that there are potential dangers in places you wouldn’t expect it.”
Tomas Morales, CSUSB President:
“These disasters are on our radar, both natural and manmade. Unfortunately, manmade is becoming more prevalent. We have active shooter drills, both past and present. We have the Great California ShakeOut planned. We need to be prepared. There is a difference between an active shooter drill versus just being ‘aware’ in a classroom setting about it.”
Ron Fremont, CSUSB Vice President:
“We get calls about ‘lockdown’ from concerned folks, but the school is not a military base. It is open, people can come onto the campus. We need to be conscious and be safe. We are taking these things seriously.”
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