10 Essential Steps to Disaster Recovery

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10 Essential Steps to Disaster Recovery

• Bringing Your Community Back From Chaos

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Disaster Management Cycle
PREPAREDNESS
MITIGATION
RESPONSE
RECOVERY
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After The Emergency Response

• The disaster isnt over when the lights and
  sirens are gone
• Recovery often takes months and even years
• Repairs and rebuilding might only be part of the
  recovery needed
• Community recovery doesnt happen well without a
  plan

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What Is Disaster Recovery

• Simply defined, Disaster Recovery is the process
  of bringing a business, organization or community
  back to normal, or how they were before the
  disaster
• In municipal government we have a duel
  responsibility
• Recovery for our entity (the city organization)
• Recovery for our residents and community

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It Can Be An Incredibly Difficult Job!
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It Can Be Vital To Our Economic Health
One fourth of all businesses that close due to a
disaster NEVER reopen!
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Recovery Planning

• Preparation to recover from a disaster as
  important as planning to respond to oneIf we
  cant get back to normal, whats the point?
• Looking at disaster recovery as part of the
  Disaster Planning Cycle will help make it an
  easier task

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Grand Forks, NDFlood of the Century Spring 1997
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Getting Started - Face Reality

• We are responsible!
• It wont happen here
• Well, it can! And it will!
• Ready?

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Recovery Business Continuity

• A simple concept
• Its assuring the continuation of your
  organization following a disaster
• Knowing what to do in order to protect and
  recover your citys functions and assets
• What to do How to do it When to do it
• Where to do it Who will do it
• Without continuity planning you may have only a
  50-50 chance of recovering from a disaster
• Are those odds good enough for you???

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The Value of a Plan

• It takes planning to get to recovery
• Plans build control and stability
• They create decision perimeters
• Provide action templates and checklists
• Support process and critical recovery elements
  into decision-making during a crisis
• The plan will
• Provide recovery goals
• Script actions and activity
• Build trust and confidence
• Focus on critical elements

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Oklahoma City April 19, 1995
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Step One Top Management Support

• Top management must support and be involved in
  the development of the disaster recovery planning
  process
• Responsible for coordinating the disaster
  recovery plan and ensuring its effectiveness
  within the organization
• Adequate time and resources must be committed to
  the development of an effective plan
• Resources could include both financial
  considerations and the effort of all personnel
  involved
• It has to begin NOW!
• Planning is the foundation to a successful
  disaster or emergency incident recovery

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Step Two - Establish DM Planning Committee

• You cant plan for everything, but you must be
  prepared to respond to anything!
• Maximizes planning resources
• Planning committee should
• Oversee the development and implementation of the
  plan and have representatives from all functional
  areas of the organization
• Committee should define scope of the plan

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Step Three Perform a Risk Assessment

• Planning committee prepares a risk analysis
• Impact analysis of departments and functions that
  including range of possible disasters/emergencies
• Natural, Technical, Biological and Human threats
• Potential consequence and impacts by function
  area of the organization (people, community,
  assets, ops)
• Identify whats importantCritical elements
• Plan should provide for the worst case situation

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ID Rank Key Ops Functions

• The critical elements are those things
  essential to keep you in operation
• Give these critical areas the most attention in
  your planning process
• Objective is to prepare for recovery in the areas
  that are specific to maintaining your operations
• To assure that your city can come back from the
  chaos and suffering created by a disaster

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Avoid the Black Box Trap

• Many organizations ready have a plan
• But most have little idea how it was generated
• Often, the plan itself is too complicated to
  understand
• In a disaster, you wont have time to read a
  book!
• For a plan to work you and your people must
  understand it
• Know how it is created Focus on the goal
• Good plans follow a logical process
• Keep it SIMPLE
• Complex systems fail complexly requiring complex
  solutions

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Step Four - Prioritize Your Threats

• Organize the threats in a logical manner
• What is most likely to occur?
• Which threats will do the most damage to your
  city?
• Where are you most vunerable?
• What will hurt the most?
• What will hurt you most?
• What are the odds it will happen?
• Focus on those that will hurt the most
• This work feeds into your EOP

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Greensburg, KS May 4, 2007
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Step Five - Establish Critical Systems Priorities

• Critical system needs of each department should
  be carefully evaluated in such areas as
• Functional operations Key personnel
• Information Processing Systems
• Services Documentation
• Vital records Facilities Infrastructure
• Policies and procedures
• Determine the maximum amount of time that the
  department and operation can operate without each
  critical system

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Step Six Develop Recovery Plan

• Contents should include
• Critical business functions and operations
  necessary to maintain your city
• Actions and resources necessary to recover these
  functions from a given disaster
• Critical community elements
• Housing, Medical, Business, Schools, etc.
• Actions and resources necessary for disaster
  recovery
• Timelines, checklists, protocols, processes
  necessary for community recovery

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Southern California Mudslides December 2003
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Step Seven Adopt the Three Cs

• Communication The Fatal Flaw
• Without communication nothing happens
• You cant over communicate
• Public information in recovery critical
• Cooperation
• Internally and Externally
• Coordination
• Who will be your recovery partners?
• How will you work with them?
• What barriers exist and how can you remove them?
• Encourage and develop your internal and external
  relationshipsyoull need them during recovery

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Step Eight Train Your People

• Train people in what you want done
• Reduce actions to checklists
• Business continuity planning
• Mitigation and Recovery implementation
• Integrate recovery into your emergency operations
  management process
• Incident Command System (ICS)
• Train them on the tools of recovery

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Oakland Firestorm October 19, 1999
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Step Nine Communicate Your Plan

• Make sure your residents receives a summary of
  the recovery plan that explains
• What you will do
• How you will operate during recovery
• What they can and should do
• Provide recovery details to your business
  community
• Give full plans to your recovery partners
• Mutual aid partners, County, State

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Step Ten Dont Quit!

• Recovery Plans will require continuous monitoring
  and updates
• Shelf-life is limited
• Periodic testing of assumptions
• Maintaining an existing plan is less expensive
  than building a new one!
• Assure resources are available for keeping your
  plan current

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The Threats Arent WaitingNeither Can We!

• Help is available
• State DEM
• DOLA
• FEMA
• Other cities
• There is no good excuse for not planning on
  recovery

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Aden Hogan, Jr. ahogan_at_ci.evans.co.us