ASCC
American Samoa Community College Disaster Emergency Plan (DEP) — 2024 Update
American Samoa Community College — the sole accredited institution of higher education in the U.S. territory of American Samoa — manages campus emergencies through its Disaster Emergency Plan (DEP), approved February 29, 2024, with the Campus Security Division providing safety services and the President directed to establish the response procedures.
Read the official policyInstitution
American Samoa Community College
Territory · AS
~1,900 studentsASCC Disaster Emergency Plan
In the policy’s own words
What the policy says
Campus Security Division missionreconstructed
The mission of American Samoa Community College Campus Security Division is to provide safety and security services for students, faculty, staff, and general public while on or in any property or facility owned or operated by the college.
- — Defines the Security Division's scope of responsibility, including the general public on college property. Captured from search reproductions of the Security Division page rather than a directly fetched copy, so flagged unconfirmed.
President establishes emergency procedures (DEP)reconstructed
The President shall establish administrative procedures and plans of action to enable the faculty, staff, and students to respond appropriately during emergency situations.
- — Locates ultimate decision authority for emergency procedures with the President. Captured from search reproductions of the DEP rather than a directly fetched PDF, so flagged unconfirmed.
At a glance
How this policy works
- When it activates
- The Disaster Emergency Plan provides procedures to manage and respond to emergencies that may pose a threat to the security of the college and the ASCC community, emphasizing orderly and expeditious evacuation and rapid communications to protect lives. As a Clery-covered institution, ASCC is subject to the federal standards for timely warnings (Clery-reportable crimes representing a continuing threat) and emergency notifications (confirmation of a significant emergency or immediate threat). Specific written criteria language was not retrievable in this review and is reconstructed from the Clery framework and indexed pages.
- Who decides
- Per the Disaster Emergency Plan, the President shall establish administrative procedures and plans of action enabling faculty, staff, and students to respond appropriately during emergencies. Operational safety and evacuation response is handled by the Campus Security Division. The specific authority designated to launch a campus-wide emergency notification was not separately confirmed in the sources reviewed.
- Timeliness standard
- Not confirmed verbatim in the sources reviewed. As a Clery-covered institution, ASCC is bound by the federal standard of issuing emergency notifications immediately upon confirmation and timely warnings as soon as pertinent information is available.
- Emergency notification vs. timely warning
- Standard federal two-track distinction applies (timely warning vs emergency notification). The college's Clery-specific written procedures (annual security report criteria) were not retrievable in this review; framing reconstructed from the Clery standard.
- Testing cadence
- Not specified in the sources reviewed. The Disaster Emergency Plan references planning and training around evacuation, but a published test cadence for any mass-notification system was not confirmed.
- Scope & limits
- The specific campus mass-notification platform and channel mix (whether ASCC operates a branded SMS/email/app alert system in addition to PA/siren and territorial WEA/PTWC warnings) was not confirmed. Population-wide tsunami/cyclone warning for American Samoa is delivered through territorial systems (Pacific Tsunami Warning Center, Wireless Emergency Alerts, NOAA Weather Radio, outdoor sirens, broadcast media) rather than a college-only channel.
ChannelsPa SystemWebsiteUnknown
Analysis
Reading the policy
American Samoa Community College (ASCC) in Mapusaga is the only college in American Samoa, a U.S. territory in the South Pacific roughly 2,600 miles southwest of Hawaii. Its emergency framework is anchored by the Disaster Emergency Plan (DEP), updated and approved on February 29, 2024, which the college describes as a comprehensive plan outlining definitions and procedures to manage and respond to emergencies that may pose a threat to the security of the college and the ASCC community. Geography drives the plan's design: American Samoa faces a high baseline of natural-hazard risk — cyclones/typhoons, earthquakes, and tsunamis (the September 2009 Samoa earthquake and tsunami killed dozens in the territory) — so the DEP emphasizes orderly, rapid evacuation and the protection of life over property.
Decision authority is set at the top of the institution. The DEP states that the President shall establish administrative procedures and plans of action to enable the faculty, staff, and students to respond appropriately during emergency situations, and frames predetermined plans for orderly and expeditious campus evacuation and rapid communications as central to saving lives. Day-to-day, the Campus Security Division carries the operational load: its stated mission is to provide safety and security services for students, faculty, staff, and the general public on college property, to deter crime, protect property, preserve the peace, and enforce applicable federal, territorial, and local laws, and it facilitates planning and training particular to evacuation plans during natural or other disasters.
The plan also integrates ASCC into the territory's broader homeland-security architecture: the college's Multi-Purpose Center (MPC) is designated as an alternate Emergency Operations Center for the American Samoa Government / Homeland Security in the event the territory's primary EOC is compromised — an unusually direct civil-emergency role for a community college, reflecting the small, tightly coupled nature of territorial government. For population-wide hazard warnings (tsunami, cyclone), the territory relies on the Pacific Tsunami Warning Center and Wireless Emergency Alerts, NOAA Weather Radio, outdoor sirens, and broadcast media — channels that reach the campus alongside any college-specific notice.
As a U.S. Title IV / Clery-covered institution, ASCC is bound by the federal two-track obligation to issue timely warnings for Clery-reportable crimes representing a continuing threat and emergency notifications upon confirmation of a significant emergency or dangerous situation involving an immediate threat to health or safety. However, the specific branded campus mass-notification platform (text/email/app vendor), the exact decision-authority chain for a Clery emergency notification, the timeliness language, and the testing cadence were not retrievable in this review: the amsamoa.edu and cpanel.server.amsamoa.edu hosts (including the DEP PDF) return HTTP 403 to automated fetching, so the elements below are paraphrased from search-engine reproductions of the DEP and Security Division pages and are honestly flagged as reconstructed. No exact verbatim policy quote could be confirmed, so this record carries low confidence.
Takeaways
Key findings
ASCC, the only college in the U.S. territory of American Samoa, anchors its emergency response in a Disaster Emergency Plan (DEP) updated and approved February 29, 2024.
The DEP places authority to establish emergency procedures with the President; the Campus Security Division provides day-to-day safety services and facilitates evacuation planning and training for natural and other disasters.
ASCC's Multi-Purpose Center is designated as an alternate Emergency Operations Center for the American Samoa Government / Homeland Security, an unusual civil-emergency role for a community college.
Natural-hazard exposure (cyclones, earthquakes, tsunamis — including the deadly 2009 Samoa tsunami) shapes the plan's emphasis on rapid, orderly evacuation; territory-wide warnings come via PTWC, WEA, NOAA Weather Radio, sirens, and broadcast media.
The specific branded mass-notification platform, exact Clery decision chain, timeliness language, and test cadence could not be retrieved (amsamoa.edu hosts 403-block automated fetching); all such fields are reconstructed and the record carries low confidence with no confirmed verbatim quote.
Policy, meet practice
When this system actually fired
2 documented times ASCC’s alert system was used, from the case archive.
Provenance
Sources
- Official
- Official
- Official
- Official
- Source
Tags
policyemergency-notificationtimely-warningterritoryamerican-samoacommunity-collegetsunamidisaster-emergency-plan
Added 2026-06-21Updated 2026-06-21Via ingestion