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ZOMBIE ATTACK
Disaster Preparedness Simulation Exercise #5 (DR5)
E-Learning System Support Team:
AT-ICS, AT-LSS, CNS-OSG, UF Help Desk
Purpose
The purpose of this exercise is to discern appropriate strategies for responding to a zombie attack and/or infection that might affect the University of Florida campus.

Participants
 All AT-LSS staff
 Appropriate AT-ICS staff
 Appropriate CNS-OSG staff
 Representatives from the UF Computing Help Desk
 CNS emergency planning representatives
 EHS emergency planning representative
 UF Zombie Response Team1

Process
This exercise consists of a single event: a table-top exercise in which the science (e.g. neurobiology) of
“zombieism,” or zombie behavior spectrum disorder2 (ZBSD) will be discussed and the stages of an outbreak identified, with follow-on discussion of how an outbreak of zombie attacks might affect maintaining support for the campus course management system.
This disaster exercise may draw upon the Campus Closure Exercise (DR4) current in the preparations stage. Discussion
It is clear that international media have begun paying increasing attention to the possibility of an outbreak of zombie behavior spectrum disorder.3 Likewise, major metropolitan police agencies are starting to pay attention to the possibility of zombie attacks and are addressing citizen notification concerns.4
1

Such a team does not yet exist at the University of Florida; but we are confident UF administration will soon see the importance of such a group, probably situated within the University Police Department.

2

This term is coined in the context of this exercise as a descriptive term for a variety of similar situations, the causes and taxonomical delineations of which have yet to be determined by the scientific community.
Hence, the phrase zombie behavior spectrum disorder or ZBSD must not be understood as a scientific or medical diagnosis; but merely as a descriptive term covering a wide variety of behaviors having somewhat similar public “event profiles” and public impacts. Note further that as the science of these events evolves, further disaster planning exercises may be necessary to incorporate specific dynamics of divergent outbreak etiology and behavior patterns.
3

See the documentary studies, Night of the Living Dead (Romero, 1968), Day of the Dead (Romero,
1985), Dawn of the Dead (Romero, 1978), 28 Days Later (Boyle, 2002), Day of the Dead (Miner, 2008),
Dead Snow (Wirkola, 2009), et al. For an alternative interpretation on zombieism and survivor response patterns consult Shawn of the Dead (Wright, 2004) which addresses some of the issues related to dating during an outbreak of ZBS (see below). See http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_zombie_films for a more complete bibliography of Zombie Studies documentaries.

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At the same time, it is also clear that the science behind ZBSD is not fully understood and, as a result, attempts to portray and study zombie behavior are not always accurate, leading to some confusion about how to accurately identify a true zombie in the midst of an outbreak.5
For purposes of this exercise, no attempt is made to distinguish between true zombieism and other, yet to be identified, outbreaks having somewhat similar affects on the general population that may fill out the full scope of the zombie behavior spectrum. For obvious reasons, we will leave that discussion to experts in the field of Zombie Studies.6 In this exercise, we assume that the affects of widespread attacks by flesheating, apparently life impaired individuals,7 accompanied by rapid spread of ZBSD caused by bites and scratches that do not result in the immediate death (and presumed consumption) of the victim, are relatively similar despite differences in biological and/or neurological causes and the etiologies of the various specific syndromes.

Part 1 of this exercise will be to identify characteristics of a