diff --git a/frontend.c b/frontend.c
index 302929c..9fc48e7 100755
--- a/frontend.c
+++ b/frontend.c
@@ -156,9 +156,9 @@ int main(int argc, char *argv[]) {
   strcat(climFile, ".clim");
   numLocs = initModel(&spatialParams, &steps, paramFile, climFile);
 
+#if EVENT_HANDLER
 	strcpy(eventFile, fileName);
 	strcat(eventFile, ".event");
-#if EVENT_HANDLER
 	initEvents(eventFile, numLocs);
 #endif
 
diff --git a/tests/Makefile.template b/tests/Makefile.template
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..e26a64d
--- /dev/null
+++ b/tests/Makefile.template
@@ -0,0 +1,34 @@
+CC=gcc
+LD=gcc
+CFLAGS=-Wall -g
+LDFLAGS=-L../../..
+LDLIBS=-lsipnet -lm
+
+# List test files in this directory here
+TEST_CFILES=<c files in this directory containing tests> <<== CHANGE THIS
+
+# The rest is boilerplate, likely copyable as is to a new test directory
+TEST_OBJ_FILES=$(TEST_CFILES:%.c=%.o)
+TEST_EXECUTABLES:=$(basename $(TEST_CFILES))
+RUN_EXECUTABLES:= $(addsuffix .run, $(TEST_EXECUTABLES))
+
+all: tests
+
+tests: $(TEST_EXECUTABLES)
+
+$(TEST_EXECUTABLES): %: %.o
+	$(CC) $(LDFLAGS) $< $(LDLIBS) -o $@
+
+$(TEST_OBJ_FILES): ../utils.h ../../../libsipnet.a ../exitHandler.c
+$(TEST_OBJ_FILES): %.o: %.c
+	$(CC) $(CFLAGS) -c -o $@ $<
+
+run: $(RUN_EXECUTABLES)
+
+$(RUN_EXECUTABLES):
+	./$(basename $@)
+
+clean:
+	rm -f $(TEST_OBJ_FILES) $(TEST_EXECUTABLES) events.in
+
+.PHONY: all tests clean run $(RUN_EXECUTABLES)