Houston Community College Announces Resilience Center

Houston Community College last week announced what it called a first-in-the-nation Resilience Center. The Center will offer continuing education and certification in seven aspects of resiliency that affect ten industries.

*Artist’s rendering.* *The center will offer “boots on the ground training” in controlled, but authentic field and virtual simulations.*

From Virtual to Real-World Similations

Students will experience all the dangers an individual is likely to encounter in a real disaster. Those include “flooded residential streets and commercial areas complete with hazards such as debris, downed power lines, submerged vehicles, and varying light levels that make the challenges all too real.”

Dimensions of resiliency addressed include:

High-water rescue
Incident management
Electricity
Debris removal
IT + drones
Facilities design
Integrated physical infrastructure

Industries include:

Construction
Additive Manufacturing and materials sciences
Health sciences
Engineering
Transportation
Public safety
Natural sciences
Digital and IT
Global energy
Logistics

All Types of Disasters, Not Just Flooding

HCC’s brochure emphasizes that, “Community resiliency is more than responding to major flood events. It includes disasters like fires, oil spills and leaks, pandemics, and freezes. This initiative is about skill mastery for ALL potential disaster scenarios.”

HCC will build the center on its northeast campus. It will accommodate three to four thousand citizens, business people and first responders per year.

“From applied ‘boots-on-the-ground’ training, they’ll experience all the dangers an individual is likely to encounter in a real disaster,” said HCC. “Those dangers include flooded residential streets and commercial areas complete with hazards. Hazards include debris, downed power lines, submerged vehicles, and varying light levels that make the challenges real.” Until the ROC’s completion, HCC will leverage existing facilities, equipment, labs, and classrooms.

Residential Risk Assessment

Students can also sign up for classes in:

Home risk assessment
How to support neighbors during emergencies
The value of insurance.

HCC hopes to complete the $30 million, 65,000 square-foot Resiliency Center in 2024.

Ultimately HCC may offer associate-degree programs around resiliency.

This YouTube video describes the program. It won’t prevent disasters. But it will help us deal with them.

Posted by Bob Rehak on 5/3/2022

1708 days since Hurricane Harvey