Zombies greeted students at checkpoints during the Zombie Preparedness Scavenger Hunt in 2016. Photo by Lee Choo.

Are you ready for the zombie apocalypse? That’s the question California State University, Northridge’s Department of Police Services and many campus partners will be asking students on Tuesday, Oct. 30, during its annual Zombie Apocalypse Scavenger Hunt, a day-long event focused on promoting disaster preparedness to the student population.

Hundreds of students will be armed with a map that will guide them through various stations across the campus where they can get cards punched and collect items that can help them during an emergency. If they collect enough punches on their cards, the students can enter a drawing for zombie-themed and emergency preparedness prizes.

“The idea is that if you can prepare for a zombie apocalypse, you can prepare for a natural disaster,” said Lisa Curtis, the university’s emergency manager of the Department of Police Services. Additionally, Huntington Hospital will have their bloodmobile present at the check-in location for those who would like to donate blood.

With a student population of nearly 40,000, Curtis says it’s important that CSUN share with its students a variety of hazard-readiness strategies that can help prepare them to be resilient and smart in the face of any disaster.

“Emergency preparedness is absolutely critical.  Resilience begins at home so it’s important that we, individually and for our families, have a plan for resources and communications,” said Curtis.

CSUN’s Zombie Apocalypse Scavenger Hunt received an Individual and Community Preparedness Award from the Federal Emergency Management Agency at the White House two years ago. The award recognized the creative approaches the university took to reach the new generation of millennials and educate them about emergency preparedness.

This will be the third year that CSUN has hosted a Zombie Apocalypse Scavenger Hunt. For more information on the Zombie Preparedness Scavenger Hunt, visit http://www.csun.edu/emergency/zombie-preparedness-scavenger-hunt.

Department of Police Services, Disaster Preparedness, Zombie Apocalypse