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Opinion
Disaster Recovery: Personal and Up Close
6/8/2007
As we move into what the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) predicts as an above normal Atlantic hurricane season, this month's column will focus on a little considered aspect of disaster recovery, personal business continuity. What does business continuity have to do with security? Both are based anticipating and planning for bad things. So don't be surprised when your boss wants you to be on the organization's disaster recovery team. You may be surprised at how much you can contribute.By now most organization have or are developing business continuity strategies and disaster recovery plans. (Disaster recovery is the act of recovering from a disaster, whereas Business Continuity is a broader term that includes anticipating and planning for bad things, as well as disaster recovery itself. Example: After the flood, Noah was practicing disaster recovery; before the flood, he was practicing business continuity.) Unfortunately, many plans ignore the human aspect. What about the people you expect to show up during and after the disaster?
The reality is that during a disaster most people's first concern is the survival and welfare of their family. A Kennedy School of Government study of the response to hurricane Katrina observed that in addition to flooded firehouses and equipment the New Orleans Fire Department struggled with depleted manpower because some firefighters didn't show up for work. Similarly, when asked why city buses weren't used to evacuate more low-income citizens from the city before the hurricane, New Orleans Mayor Nagin stated, "Sure, there was [sic] lots of buses out there, but guess what? You can't find drivers that would stay behind with a Category 5 hurricane." (Lessons From Katrina and Rita, Todd Litman)
One of the nine general problems identified by Litman during Katrina and Rita was the failure to help evacuate families of essential staff (police, fire, transit, healthcare, utility, etc.) so they could concentrate on emergency response. It seems to me that if we want key employees to show up to assist in disaster recovery, we should implement procedures that provide for their families security.
Fortunately, excellent assistance for individuals and families is available. Organizations such as the American Red Cross and the Federal Emergency Management Agency outline effective family emergency strategies. Organizations would be well served to work with key employees to assist them in implementing a family emergency plan. If they feel that their families are prepared to handle an emergency, a key employee is more likely to focus their primary attention on the organization's disaster recovery efforts.
When I began preparing a personal business continuity plan, however, I noticed that all of the recommended strategies had a 19th-century flavor. They focused on things like having three days of food and water but said very little about rebuilding your life in a 21st-century environment.
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