The University of Valencia (UV) sent a statement to all its students on Monday afternoon announcing the suspension of classes due to the forecast of heavy rain. During Tuesday morning, it was agreed to suspend all teaching, administrative, research and cultural activity on all campuses and university facilities. The notice, which decreed level 3 of emergency, reached the entire campus network at 12:00 noon: 50,000 students, 3,000 technical staff, administration and support services workers and more than 5,000 teachers.
The UV has its own emergency committee, coordinated with the regional services and its own alert system that has five levels: from zero, which corresponds to normality, to four, which includes the immediate evacuation of the facilities. The adoption of the levels is closely linked to the Generalitat’s emergency system, as well as to AEMET notices and municipal alerts in each municipality where there are campuses, sources from the rector’s office explain to elDiario.es. In this way there may be a different alert level for each campus depending on the circumstances of the territory in which it is located, they say.
The committee was created five years ago at the proposal of the rector, Maria Vicenta Mestre, and is made up of a multidisciplinary team: essential services for the functioning and security of the university and risk prevention, those responsible for teaching, faculty and the management staff. It was established thinking about rain emergencies, which are the ones that have the most impact in the Valencian Community. Decisions are based on the weather, the state of the road network and transportation systems, as well as the university’s own infrastructure. “The team and criteria are broad,” these sources point out.
On Monday, the committee declared level 2 in advance – suspension of teaching activities – and “when we saw the red alerts and assessed possible risks to mobility, we made the decision to suspend all activities”, that is, declare level 3. “It was a very thoughtful and worked-out decision,” say University sources, who recall that the suspension affects disparity in research and laboratories. The principle of action, they say, is situation analysis and risk assessment with principles of prudence and people’s safety. “These are decisions that cannot be taken lightly,” explains the University management team, which always acts one day in advance. The notices to the students and the entire university system were essential.
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