Great Alaska ShakeOut 2012

The first annual Alaska participation in the Great ShakeOut earthquake drill seems to have been an educational experience for many. UPD took over the speakerphone function of the University's Cisco VoIP phone system and made an announcement that everyone should "Drop, Cover and Hold On" as part of a preparedness exercise. Leadership at our Kenai, Mat-Su, Homer and Valdez campuses participated as well.

We have heard that some classroom and office phones did not activate to make the announcement. For those who were not at their desk when the alert was sent, please note that the system would not have indicated a missed call and would not have forwarded the message to your mobile phone, as it was not delivered as a phone call. IT Services is working on determining why the alert functioned the way it did, and they will be re-testing the system to ensure that our mass paging capability is as robust as it was designed to be.