October 29, 2007
 I hope this letter finds you safe after the harrowing week we spent dealing with the Witch Creek, Harris and other wildfires in San Diego County. Everyone in our community has been affected in some way. Over 500,000 residents were evacuated and many, including UC San Diego employees, returned to find their homes destroyed or damaged. I want to express my deep sorrow to those who lost loved ones and their homes.
During this uncertain time, I heard many stories about how the UC San Diego community banded together. Students organized collection drives to provide supplies for evacuees. Staff and faculty opened their homes to their evacuated coworkers. They checked on each other and offered support and comfort. The outpouring of care and concern was truly amazing.
I want to thank all UC San Diego employees who reported to campus and worked tirelessly to ensure the safety of our students and our university. We were extremely fortunate to have sufficient food, resources, and workers to care for everyone on campus after classes were cancelled for the week.
I’m truly impressed with the coordination and communication of our university leaders and employees during this emergency. Our Emergency Operations Center (EOC) was activated in the very early hours of October 22 and was staffed through October 26. It remained on full alert over the weekend. The EOC is where campus leaders and emergency responders maintained contact with local, state and federal authorities to get up-to-the-minute information about the location and pace of the fires. Informed by city, county and federal information, our campus leaders were able to make timely decisions about the status of our campus.
With the aid of email, phone and text messages, we provided critical information to university employees, students and the media, updating them on the status of the campus, services available to students, and the cancellation of many events. [For specific event cancellations, please see the ucsdnews.ucsd.edu and www.artpower.ucsd.edu sites. You may check our website at www.ucsd.edu for additional information and continual updates. Additional resources are available to the UC San Diego community and we have prepared a few of them for easy access on our website. (For access, click here.)
Our new emergency notification system, via text and voicemail messaging, was a valuable tool in the dissemination of information. UC San Diego is using the most state-of-the-art and comprehensive technology available to communicate to such a large disseminated audience. Communication is key during an emergency, and I’m proud to say that we excelled during this crisis.
It will take many months, and more likely many years, for our community to rebound. But as San Diego has done before, it will rebuild and we will help each other by being a stronger and more united community.
Thank you for your cooperation and concern during this disaster.
With warm regards,
Marye Anne Fox
Chancellor
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