By KATIE CHRISTENSEN
christensen@newsroom.byu.edu
Lying in darkness after an earthquake and fire in the Caroline Harman Continuing Education Building, BYU students anticipated rescue on Wednesday. With a search and rescue team on their way to be certified, the students used their acting skills to simulate the effects of an earthquake and a fire.
Mock disasters like the one in the Harman Building's garage are necessary to test people who want to be certified in search and rescue, said Lynn Leifson, instructor of search and rescue and manager of the design section at BYU.
Leifson said the simulated disaster also gives acting and makeup students an opportunity to use their talents to pretend they are injured.
Victims of extreme disasters experience several types of injuries from shock to burns, cuts, bruises and sometimes even death, said Janet Swenson, professor of theater and media arts. Swenson said they try to make the victims seem as realistic as possible for the search and rescue team.
'The main thrust of the event includes searching the disaster area, looking for victims and providing aid for the injured,' Leifson said.
Leifson said the first important point to remember while rescuing victims is to maintain regard for own personal safety. He said the people rescuing accomplished the first goal and did a remarkable job in the face of disaster.
'It was confusing. You didn't have time to think -- you just had to take charge,' said Robin Offley, a BYU employee in the certification process for the search and rescue team.
Offley said they are taught all of the search and rescue skills and the mock disaster is their final for certification. The teachers for certification train the students so they are prepared in disasters.
'I don't think anyone could ever be totally prepared for an actual disaster,' Offley said.
'When I was lying there, I really thought what it would be like to be in a real accident,' said Jeff Martin, 23, a senior from Rexburg, Idaho, majoring in theater education.
'It scared me because they would go to the people that were the loudest, screaming and crying, but not necessarily hurting that bad,' Martin said.
Kerry Braum, emergency preparedness coordinator, said he thought the disaster was going to be total chaos and that the people getting certified were going to have a real hard time treating everyone.
Braum said all students that participated really came together and worked as a group remarkably well.
The simulated disaster began at 9:00 a.m. and the search and rescue team completed the whole process in less than an hour.