SUBJECT:

Crisis Response Exercise in Atkinson Hall-8/22/06

On Tuesday, August 22, 2006, a unique preparedness exercise will take place at Atkinson Hall, the home of Calit2's UCSD division. This exercise will bring together public safety personnel from the police and fire departments, SWAT, HAZMAT, the Medical Response System, and UCSD with researchers from Calit2. For this drill, Atkinson Hall will play the part of the frontline in the war on terrorism. While first responders practice their skills in responding to urban terrorism, researchers from the WIISARD (Wireless Internet Information Systems for Medical Response in Disasters) project and the RESCUE (Response to Crises and Unexpected Events) project will deploy and test new technologies for management of mass casualty situations.

This exercise will take place from approximately 8:00am-2:00pm. There will be several effects on neighboring buildings, and on the campus community:

1. Parking lot P503 and P502 -- Lot P502, the large staff and faculty lot located across Voigt Dr. from Atkinson Hall, will be closed on August 22, 2006. The lot will be setup as a staging area for medical response and incident command. Volunteers acting as "victims" will undergo treatment for their mock injuries on this site. Lot P503, the small lot between Atkinson Hall and EBU1, will remain open, HOWEVER, access to this lot will be closed from 8:00am-2:00pm. Individuals planning to park in P503 should plan to arrive before 7:30am and should not plan to leave until after 2:30pm on August 22, 2006. Parking will be available in lots 703, 704, and 705, and a shuttle will run between those lots and the EBU2 loading dock from 7:00am-5:30pm.

2. The section of Voigt Dr. between Hopkins Dr and Matthews Ln (access to the EBU2 loading dock will remain clear) will be closed to all vehicles from 8:00am-2:00pm on August 22, 2006. This means that there will be no access to the CSE, Atkinson Hall, BioEngineering, nor EBU1 loading docks during this time.

Last year's exercise, which was of similar scale, was held at the Del Mar Fairgrounds. Those interested in reading more about the background of this activity can read the press release here: http://www.calit2.net/newsroom/article.php?id=745

Ramesh Rao UCSD Division Director Calit2