DMII

The official publicaTion of The canadian cenTre for emergency preparedness

Disaster

canadaVolume 2 • Issue 1 • Spring 2008

The righT messagecommunicating effectively during a fire crisis

KaTrina Lessons to be learned

Cross border

responders

aviaTion TeChnology

PM40

7875

80

Canadian Centre for Emergency Preparedness

Visit www.dri.ca or call 1-888-728-3742 for additional training opportunities. Discountsavailable for in-house training!

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200 Sanders St., Suite 201, P.O. Box 552, Kemptville, ONFax: 613.258.1447 [email protected]

w w w. d r i . c a1 - 8 8 8 - 7 2 8 - 3 7 4 2

8 18 neWs & updaTes 4president’s message By Adrian Gordon 6iaem launches website and defines role in canada

6What’s happening at drie?

6oaem update

7events

feaTures 8firing off the right message Communicating to people during a fire crisis By Kelly Parker

14disaster mismanagement Lessons learned from the Katrina crisis By Ali Farazmand

18When aviation technology fails Preparing for unexpected glitches By Kelly Parker

20flooding in southern africa Disaster risk reduction at work as the region battles more floods By Dewald van Niekerk

22clearing the border Officials look at ways to ensure responders can cross with ease By Natalia A. Feduschak

25planning the perfect tabletop exercise Turn your next tabletop exercise into a success By Rich Schiesser

26index to advertisers

14

March 2008

contents

Disaster management canada �

conTenTs

� Disaster management canada�

W e are proud to present you with our newly redesigned Disaster Management Canada magazine.

We hope that you — like us — are pleased with the revised layout and reader-friendly format. As I mentioned in the last issue, we’ve started to introduce a number of changes to CCEP’s official publication with the goal of better addressing your areas of interest and concern and communicating with you in an effective manner.

We’ve introduced some new sections, namely Preparedness, Response and Aftermath, where we will regularly feature stories that specifically fall under these umbrella categories. In this issue’s Response section, we look at the challenges facing cross-border responders at the more secure Canada-U.S. border. In the Preparedness section we examine the importance of communicating effectively long in advance of a fire crisis.

We will also continue providing you with additional feature articles touching on timely issues relevant to emergency preparedness professionals in Canada. As well, we’ve streamlined our Foreign Report to focus on one region only, providing more depth and information on the topic at hand. In this issue, we look at the extreme flooding taking place in southern Africa and how effective crisis management strategy has mitigated the impact.

On the home front, CCEP has finished putting together the program for the 18th World Conference on Disaster Management. Global warming is one of the biggest threats facing our society and we need to examine what it means to the community emergency manager and the disaster management professional.

As such, we’ve added a workshop, plenary and a number of breakout sessions to the program to answer one of the most common questions coming from the disaster management profession: What does global warming mean to my community emergency management program?

We’ve also launched the 2008 Canadian Emergency Management & Business Continuity Awards to recognize and encourage those who have made extraordinary contributions to emergency management or business continuity in Canada. The awards provide an opportunity

for Canadians to honour individuals who have raised the bar and set standards for others to emulate. They will be presented at the conference in June.

Education and training is very important to us and we will launch a scholarship program at CCEP that will “invest in our future” to give back to the profession. Our first scholarship will be issued for the start of the academic year in September to a Canadian student enrolled in an undergraduate or certificate program at a Canadian post-secondary institution. As firm believers in the power of education, this is truly a very proud moment in CCEP’s history.

And lastly, we’ve conducted some extensive strategic planning sessions. You can expect to hear more from us in the next few months on projects and issues CCEP will be tackling. In particular, we will become more active in the area of mitigation and preparedness — two areas pivotal to fostering a disaster resilient Canada.

At CCEP, we believe we can be one voice for the disaster management community — a conduit between the disaster management community and the public and private sector. Whether through the pages of our magazine, our annual conference, or our day-to-day dealings, we look forward to successfully fulfilling this role.

Adrian Gordon President & CEO CCEP

adrian gordon presidenT & ceo, ccep

presidenT’s message

860 Harrington Court, Suite 211 Burlington, ON Canada L7N 3N4

Tel: 905.331.2552 Toll Free: 866.559.2237

Fax: 905.331.1641 www.ccep.ca

EDITORIAL ADVISORY BOARDJohn Ash

David EtkinDoug Harrison

Randy HullJohn LindsayHeather LyleTony Moore

John Newton Ph.D., P.Eng.David Parsons

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Associate Editor Roma Ihnatowycz

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President Kevin Brown

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All rights reserved. The contents of this publication may not be reproduced by any means, in whole or in part, without the prior written consent of the association. Published March 2008.

Publication Mail Agreement #40787580Return undeliverable copies to:Canadian Centre for Emergency Preparedness860 Harrington Court, Suite 211 Burlington, ON Canada L7N 3N4 Tel: 905.331.2552 Toll Free: 866.559.2237 Fax: 905.331.1641 www.ccep.ca

Canadian Centre for Emergency Preparedness

Disaster

canada

DRIE Ottawa is gearing up for its 7th Annual Conference and Tradeshow taking place May 21 at the Ottawa

Congress Centre. The event targets Business Continuity Planners in the Ottawa area and provides an excellent opportunity to find out what’s what from participating exhibitors and sponsors. Efforts are also underway for Disaster Recovery Information Exchange (DRIE) Ottawa’s first quarterly meeting, scheduled for March 5.

The DRIE SouthWestern Ontario Chapter’s (DRIE-SWO) symposium on Crisis Manage-ment was a success with more than 50 chapter members and associations attend-ing the October 17 event. Sponsored by SunGard Availability, the symposium hosted

five professional speakers who spoke on topics tied to crisis management. Planning is already underway for the next sympo-sium, scheduled for May 7 in Kitchener-Wa-terloo and sponsored by Iron Mountain.

DRIE’s Toronto chapter continues with its cross public/private sector Greater Toronto Incident Management Exchange (GTIME) on integrating plans and communications. Its recent December symposium was filled to

capacity and sessions focused on changing trends that influence continuity and emer-gency planning, such as climate change and supply chain.

RECO Montreal continues with monthly offerings and numerous opportunities for DRIE members to meet in both English and French. DRIE West is currently reviewing its symposium schedule to provide maximum value to members.

Inspired by DRIE Atlantic’s February 8th Pandemic Exercise audio conference regional meeting, all DRIE chapters have joined forces to offer a cross-chapter ‘webinar’ in February as a new venue for members to share information and ideas.

associaTion neWs

OAEM updAtE

it has been a busy fall/winter period for the Ontario Association of Emergency Managers (OAEM). In

October, OAEM participated in Emergen-cy Management Ontario’s annual Critical Infrastructure Awareness Program (CIAP) Conference & Interdependency Exercise,

and in November the OAEM took part in the International Day of People with Disabilities Forum “Working Together to Build Accessible Emergency Prepared-ness Across Ontario” (which included the critical issue of planning for animals).

In December, it participated in The Future of EM in Ontario and in January in an information session and discussion with the Ministry of Education on a proposed Ontario Secondary School Diploma Specialist High Skills Majors for emergency management and community safety.

OAEM also continued to provide many professional development (PD) and

networking opportunities for its members. This included its November PD Workshop #15, hosted by the Ontario Fire College (OFC) in Gravenhurst, ON and featuring Commissioner of Community Safety, Jay Hope, as a special guest speaker.

Plans are now under way for 2008, including a Building YOUR Emergency Management Program on February 28 at York Regional Police Association and CIA Awareness, at Waterloo Region Emergency Services Training & Research Complex on April 11. There will also be OAEM’s first Golf Tournament on May 29 and then its AGM will be held on May 30.

WhAt’s hAppEning At dRiE?

iAEM lAunchEs WEbsitE And dEfinEs ROlE in cAnAdA

iAEM Canada officially launched its website, www.iaem-canada.ca, in January. Following the 2007 Annual

General Meeting of IAEM members in Reno and approval of the new IAEM by-laws, it was decided that IAEM Canada will function as a national emer-gency managers’ association in Canada.

The Canadian branch of the International Association of Emergency Managers (IAEM) established six standing committees, includ-ing a Government Affairs Committee and a Public-Private Partnership Committee.

In addition, IAEM-Canada recently prepared and distributed a discussion paper on organizing professional emergency managers in Canada among the major national and regional emergency management associations for discussions. The goal is to discuss options available to regional and national associations for future collaborations and activities.

IAEM Canada continues to expand its partnership with governmental and non-governmental Canadian organiza-

tions. This past January it established a partnership with the Conference Board of Canada and Strategy Institute.

Volume 2 • Issue 1Disaster management canada�

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april 2 – 3Business ContinuityRisk Management ExpoLondon, UK www.businesscontinuityexpo.co.uk

april 21 – 24Disaster Forum 2008Banff, ABwww.disasterforum.ca

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Disaster management canada �

the images were staggering. October 2007: fires, fanned by the notorious hot, dry and at times hurricane-force

Santa Ana winds, were laying waste with shocking speed and horrifying efficiency to immense tracts of California. About 1,500 homes were destroyed, nine people were killed and 85 were left injured.

Feelings of rising panic gripped everyone who was watching it unfold from the comfort of safe living rooms all across the country. Nature wanted to have her way, and those trying to hold her back were small, their efforts seemingly insignificant.

To be there — watching help-lessly as high walls of flames stalked, coming for everything you had — how could you even function? The answer is: you barely do.

That is precisely why crisis communication is so crucial and requires extraordinary precision to press the right buttons in the right way to make people act. And this is also why, unless everything is well- prepared long before that first ember sparks, it will be too late.

There is a school of thought that says during a crisis, the constituent groups that need to be addressed include the commu-nity, businesses and individuals. Not every-one, however, agrees. Dr. Robert Chandler, chair of the Centre for Communication and Business at Pepperdine University (those same Malibu hills where the fires burned right up to his back fence) has made the field of crisis communications his life’s work. He feels there is really only one constituent to be considered: the individual.

“Even if you’re talking to businesses, schools or communities,” says Chandler, “I see all of those as talking to individuals in those contexts. I don’t think one communicates to businesses. I think one communicates to people at a business — representatives, stakeholders or affirmative actors in that business.”

The ultimate audience, stresses Chandler, will always be the individual, and the first requirement for effective communication, “is to remember that you’re talking to people, as opposed to things, entities or organizations.”

preparedness

Firing off theright message communicating to people during a fire crisis requires a combination of simplicity, repetition and a whole lot of advance planning, say the expertsby Kelly parKer

for emergency responders to communicate effectively to

people during a major fire crisis there needs to be advance planning and preparation

Volume 2 • Issue 1

Jim Stanton, president of the Vancouver-based crisis communications firm Stanton Associates, concurs. “I don’t make a distinction (between individuals, businesses or communities),” he says. “There are some fundamentals that cross all of those boundaries.”

The fundamentals include those essential things that people need to know when there is a major fire: what is really happening, what the authorities are doing to address the crisis, what people need to do now, and when things are expected to get back to normal.

different communicationOnce these concerns are properly addressed and communicated, the next question to be asked is ‘what type of context is the individual going to be in when I need to reach them?’ Here, the message is para-mount because individual reactions and comprehension skills in times of crisis vary tremendously from those of everyday life.

“People react to communication differently during a crisis like a fire emergency,” says Chandler, “changing how they listen, hear, process and respond to communication. Let me tell you, when you see the smoke and the flames, the sky is orange, the fire trucks are coming by and there is a sheriff’s deputy at your door at 5:15 in the morning saying, ‘Get out now if you want to live!’ it changes how you hear messages. I know that both from research and personal experience.”

We’ve all heard the term, “struck dumb.” Not only is that a likelihood in a crisis situation like the recent Malibu fires, or the

Essentials for Emergency communication n firefighters need to be

prepared to communicate. Surveys show that they are

deemed the most-trustworthy vocation. (Ipsos-Reid)

n emergency information website. Use it as an effective com-

munications tool from the “get go.” Brand that web address in advance, and encourage people to bookmark it.

n eight essentials for your messaging: • What is really happening? • How will this affect me? • What are you doing? • What do I need to do? • When will things get back

to normal? • Include specific and

detailed instructions. • Be reassuring. • Use trusted voices of authority.

n develop telephone on-hold messaging to include:

• Let me tell you what we know…

• Our plan is in place and has been activated… • Listen to media for updates… • Our organization is trained

to handle situations of this nature… • Call (phone number) for further information • Visit our website at

http://www.jim-stanton.com

Courtesy: Stanton Associates http://www.jim-stanton.com

“i don’t think one communicates to businesses. i think one communicates to people at a business — representatives, stakeholders or affirmative actors in that business”

dr. Robert chandler, centre for communication and business, pepperdine university

communicating to the target

audience can take many forms,

including facebook, blogs or any other instant

communications media

March 2008 Disaster management canada �

Kelowna fires of 2003, it is actually to be expected. According to research conducted by Chandler, people decrease about four grade-levels in their reading scores during a crisis situation. As a result, language needs to be simplified even for fairly well-educated audiences.

Says Stanton: “I can’t emphasize enough that the instructions be detailed and simple.” As a point of comparison, Stanton looks at a boil-water advisory: “You can’t just say to

people, ‘Boil your water.’ You need to tell them: ‘Bring your water to a rolling boil for three minutes, then let the water cool, and you can drink it. You do not need to boil it again.’”

As a rule, this is the type of simple, basic instruction that is required. People need to be reminded in the most straightforward and explicit terms what they need to do because in times of disaster,

they often “don’t even know that they don’t know,” explains Stanton.

To get the message across effectively, Chandler advocates what he calls a ‘3-3-30’ rule for writing messages. “I teach that you have got to give a warning/notification message in three sentences, with no more than three ideas, and in a maximum of 30 words,” he says. “And you want all of that to be at about a 5th or 6th grade reading level. So you’ve really got to tier messages.”

Even if the messaging has been flawlessly designed, it is still not likely to get through the fog of psychological noise unless it has been planted — branded if you will — on the subconscious long in advance

last year’s forest fires in california left many people

panicked and unable to process

messages effectively

preparedness


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Advance planningHowever, even if that messaging has been flawlessly designed, it is still not likely to get through the fog of psychological noise unless it has been planted — branded if you will — on the subconscious long in advance. “Training is a wonderful tool to expand the ability to handle (this incoming information),” explains Chandler. “Com-munication in a fire emergency depends on what you have told people in advance. Prior training is the great hidden asset for emergency notification in terms of what to do, where to go and where to get more information.”

This means that messages need to be mapped out, tested to ensure they work, and started long in advance of an actual fire. Fire safety warnings are essential, and the more advance information that can be pre-positioned in people’s minds, the more they will understand and digest during the actual crisis. According to Chandler, this is true for any group you are trying to reach, be it a business or school.

“The evidence is overwhelming that the more you (communicate in advance) the better the messages will be listened to, perceived, comprehended, and that an appropriate behavioral response to the message will result. All of those dimensions have to be in place,” he says.

“Effective communication begins in advance of a crisis,” stresses Chandler. “This is where you have to educate. You notify people that a system is in place, and that you need to watch for messages from this source, (in the case of email notifications) with this subject heading and saying something like this.”

All of this brings up the subject of notification systems. Experts agree that the business of communicating to the target audience can take many forms, including Facebook, blogs or any other instant communications media. These days, having enough technology in place to facilitate this communication is not the issue. Using the right technology to reach the right people is.

“You want to be using technology that reaches the right people at the right time with the right message,” points out Chandler. “With all of these wonderful automated notification tools... you can

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actually have an integrated communication plan that utilizes multiple channels and logistics simultaneously, and does so with very few person hours.”

“Some of the systems that are out there,” continues Chandler, “allow one person to very quickly reach all of the constituents — individuals, businesses, communities, schools and emergency responders — in a matter of minutes in the ways that are most effective to reach each at whatever time and in whatever context. What you really want is redundancy, repetition and verification, and an effective communications system has got to accomplish that.”

“the evidence is overwhelming that the more you (communicate in advance) the better the messages will be listened to, perceived, comprehended, and that an appropriate behavioral response to the message will result”

dr. Robert chandler, centre for communication and business, pepperdine university

At the end of the day, even with all of the technology available and the right message targeted to the right constituents, the key to maintaining order during the crisis might come right back to that universal constant: the human factor. People — individuals — want to hear from those in authority. In fact, a recent Ipsos-Reid survey found that firefighters were at the top of the list of trusted vocations. People want reassurance and they need detailed and specific simple instructions.

“That combination,” sums up Stanton, “needs to drive all of your messages through all of the phases of a crisis.” DMC

March 2008

WORLD CONFERENCE ONDISASTER MANAGEMENT18THJUNE 15 – 18

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preparedness

Disaster management canada 1�

h urricane Katrina didn’t just strike New Orleans, it destroyed it. It also struck the United States, its

governmental system at all levels, its political culture and its capacity as a global superpower.

Crises and emergencies test the competency of governments. It’s fair to say that the U.S. governments at local, state and federal levels failed in the historic test of managing the emergency and the crisis that ensued during and after the landfall of Hurricane Katrina in New Orleans.

Studies of the Katrina crisis will likely continue to proliferate for future crisis management. In many respects, it

represents mismanagement as a ‘global case of grand failure.’

planning and preparedness: A failure In terms of planning, both politics and administration failed as an integrated system as well as a dichotomy of the two. It was science and political sentiment of the time that contributed to the initial planning and execution of a weak levee system that was designed to protect the city of New Orleans, a vibrant cultural metropolis below the sea level.

There was a ‘compromise’ in principles of planning, engineering and design, and

‘politics’ was responsible for it. More specifically, the levee system was initially designed for Category 5 hurricanes, at a cost of $2 to $3 billion, to provide a powerful protective system against one of the most devastating forces of nature — a strong hurricane.

However, politics prevailed over good ad-ministration and compromised all the basic principles of sound governance. A deci-sion was made to build a less-costly levee system that would not stand against even a Category 3 hurricane. Most politicians, especially elected ones, have short-term

afTermaTh

Katrina: Disaster mismanagementas the three-year anniversary of hurricane Katrina approaches, dr. ali farazmand reflects on the lessons learned from one of the world’s worst examples of crisis response

by ali farazmand

While rescuers did their best, the u.s. government at all levels failed to

manage the Katrina crisis properly

One year after the disaster houses in new Orleans were still in a state of absolute collapse

A weaklevee could not hold back the powerful flooding brought on by hurricane Katrina

Volume 2 • Issue 1Disaster management canada1�

visions of self-interests in rushing to gain momentum for immediate gains, often at the expense of long-term, strategic and infrastructure development. This was exactly the case in New Orleans. Consequently, despite numerous warnings by experts, the levee system was never upgraded for a major hurricane disaster.

The failure of both politics and administration was also evident in the preparation stage in the face of approaching Katrina. Despite many days of advance warning by the Miami Hurricane Center, preparation was poor, at best, at all levels of government.

Politically, leaders failed to order advance evacutions for New Orleans residents and

to assist the most vulnerable and poor population unable to move. They played partisan politics and ‘politics of neglect’ by failing to do that which they were elected and entrusted to do — save lives and property.

The failure in administrative preparation was also evident with the nation’s most important agency — the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA). It was expected to act with preparation and it did not. FEMA lacked even in basic supplies of food, water, logistics, organizational coordination and interagency and network capacity. There was neither ‘integration’ nor a working dichotomy of politics and administration.

Response failure Preparation failure was followed by response failure. With the lack of political will to make timely decisions, the lack of intergovernmental coordination and the ‘politics of neglect’ that resulted in the arrival of a hurricane that breached the levees, New Orleans became a disastrous national and international spectre. People watched with disbelief on television screens around the world.

Was it really happening in America? How can a superpower not handle a localized disaster crisis on its own land? What would other nations expect of America in similar situations elsewhere in the world? What if multiple Katrinas strike both America and other regions at the same time? Many expressed disbelief, especially about a superpower that stages wars of invasion worldwide but proved unable to manage a disaster-driven crisis on its own land.

The response failure was multi-dimensional: political, leadership, managerial, organizational, intergovernmental and interagency coordination, decision-making, basic service delivery, and coordination of

Many of the survivors of hurricane Katrina were stunned by the level of destruction left in the wake of what many are calling one of the worst natural disasters the country has ever seen. this Mississippi gulf coast resident was spotted amid the devastated downtown of gulfport, Mississippi

Aerial view of a flooded neighbourhood in new OrleansPhoto courtesy of the US Department of Defense

us Army soldiers in a us coast guard fan boat as it cruises the flooded streets of new Orleans looking for survivors after hurricane Katrina

Photo: US Department of Defense PH1(AW) BRIEN AHO, USN

Photo: US Department of Defense SGT CHRIS A. DURNEY, USA

March 2008 Disaster management canada 15

networked and volunteered organizations and groups, and more.

The failure to respond — in terms of evacuation, timely use of available resources, invoking timely constitutional and necessary authorities and acting with professionalism and accountability — is among the highlights of the Katrina disaster mismanagement.

For instance, hundreds of school buses were left unused — and went under water — while waiting for the FEMA-promised buses. When the buses finally arrived, late, they were from outsourced contractors across the country and were inefficient. As a result, thousands of volunteer forces were kept away by FEMA director Michael Brown, who appeared to be more interested in ‘image making and protecting his boss, George W. Bush, rather than saving lives.’

The response failure was devastating, ugly and costly. It led to a new stage of the disaster: a crisis of system breakdown as a result of the ensuing chaos that followed.

Management and leadership crisisWith the breach of the levees, the city of New Orleans was immediately under ten feet of water filled with environmental hazards. This led to the loss of numerous lives and destroyed any capacity left to an emergency management system. A new stage of ‘chaos and crisis situations’ emerged with no one able to cope with it and no capacity to contain and manage it.

Routine crisis and emergency situations can be managed with normal emergency management capacities. But once they passed into chaotic and complex crisis stages, almost all those capacities become useless. Managing complex, chaotic and high-level crises require different sets of knowledge, skills and preparation. These involve bold decision making, central and yet flexible organizational command structures and a leadership to stay on top of the crisis that is unfolding with dynamic changes. Chaos is expected under crisis situations and it must be treated as another challenge.

These qualities were all lacking in Katrina crisis management. Crises scramble plans of action and surprise everyone in and out of the field, as the dynamics of a crisis change and unfold on daily, hourly and even on a per- minute basis, with unpredictable outcomes.

These are characteristics of crises and the only way to manage high-level crises is to

A us navy Mh-60s seahawk helicopter hovers over a flooded home depot store after lowering a pararescueman (center entrance) to look for any survivors in the flooded city of new Orleans. the navy’s active participation in the hurricane Katrina humanitarian assistance operations was led by the federal Emergency Management Agency (fEMA), in conjunction with the department of defense (dod)

An aerial view of the areas still

flooded two weeks after

hurricane Katrina struck

A us navy Aviation Warfare systems Operator third class (AW3), rescues an elderly evacuee from a rooftop in new Orleans, as the two are hoisted on board a helicopter, during hurricane Katrina relief operations

texas Army national guard Military police and texas Air

national guard security forces squadron work to preserve

the safety of those who were stranded at the louisiana

superdome after the levees broke and flooded new Orleans in

the wake of hurricane KatrinaPhoto: US Department of Defense CMSGT GONDA MONCADA, USAF

Photo: US Department of Defense PH3 JAY C. PUGH, USN

Photo: US Department of Defense SSG RICKY A. MELTON, USA

Photo: US Department of Defense SSGT STEVEN WILLIAMS, USMC

afTermaTh


Ali Farazmand, Ph.D., is professor of public administration at Florida Atlantic University and editor in chief of the Public Organization Review. Farazmand is also the author of “Learning from

Katrina Crisis: A Global and International Perspective with Implications for Future Crisis Management”(2007), which appeared in Public Administration Review 67, SI, December: 149-159. This piece is an amended and edited extract from this article.

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build ‘surprise management’ capacities. In the case of Katrina, evidence shows that emergency planners and managers, as well as political leaders, lacked any training in ‘chaos and crisis management.’ They did not expect or anticipate such a crisis.

Why not? How could they afford not to? Anticipation is the key element of both emergency and crisis management, and this was an inexcusable part of the failure to prepare and respond.

build crisis and surprise management capacityThere are many lessons to be learned from Katrina. Three of these lessons emphasize the use of professionally-trained individuals for emergency and crisis management, trained leadership capacity with chaos and crisis management knowledge and skills, and anticipation of impossibilities through ‘surprise manage-ment’ knowledge, skills and attitudes.

Federalizing and centralizing the crisis and emergency management structure may be one solution to consider, but it can also conflict with constitutional issues of federalism and intergovernmental relations. Similarly, mere centralization without flexible decentralization of organization and coordination of network systems in crises can also not work and may cause more crises of its own.

What is needed is building a “surprise management capacity” that is adaptive, anticipatory and prepared to respond to future crisis management. It must be a system capacity that accurately reads the incoming crises and takes bold actions to inform and engage citizens, prepare for the worst, evacuate the target population and respond to necessary resources to achieve a level of recovery for renewal.

Two examples that present possible global best practices are the July 28, 1976 earthquake in Qinglong County in northeast China — predicted four days in advance — and the June 7, 2007 Category 3 Hurricane Guno that hit the south eastern coastal cit-ies and towns of Iran in the Persian Gulf. In both cases advance communication, citizen engagement and organized evacuation led to the saving of untold lives: not a single life was lost in either case.

Similarly, the unexpected massive earthquake of December 2004 destroyed the ancient Iranian city of Bam — a city with over 80,000 residents — at early dawn. It destroyed the entire city, including

its 2,500-year-old citadel — the world’s largest — and took over 50,000 lives. By 3:00 p.m. the same day, a centralized command structure was already in place and operational in Tehran and in the field. In less than 24 hours, chaos was arrested and effective response systems surprised even Red Cross and FEMA representatives arriving to help but finding little to do.

Similar strategic thinking and surprise management capacity building could have saved thousands of lives, the eco-system and over $300 billion in New Orleans. DMC

March 2008 Disaster management canada 1�

i t was the kind of public relations nightmare that keeps airline CEOs awake at night, and it happened in

the very hub of the Canadian commercial aviation industry. In November 2007, Air Canada experienced a major computer problem that resulted in delayed flights all over the world and a massed congregation of angry Toronto passengers waiting to be processed-in manually.

The finger of fate pointed at Air Canada this time, but it wasn’t the first airline to experience these kinds of issues. In February 2005, more than 50 domestic flights operated by United Airlines were delayed when that airline’s reservations computer shut down for 45 minutes. In September 2004, German airline Lufthansa was forced to cancel some 29 flights when a glitch in its computer system forced counter staff to manually check-in passengers.

In the case of Air Canada, says spokesman Peter Fitzpatrick, “it was a language programming issue that prevented our cen-tral reservations computer from communi-cating with our computers at the various air-ports we use. It affected our intra-company email for check-in agents, our computerized check-in ability, airport kiosks and baggage tagging abilities.”

It also left countless Air Canada passengers with a sour taste in their mouths, the last thing any airline needs in this era of de-regulated competition.

Any expert will tell you that there is no such thing as a flawless computer system, and that the nearest thing that exists is still going to be vulnerable to the odd ghost in the machine. That’s simply the nature of the beast. Computers take care of it all these days, so the very system that makes things

easier also makes for big problems when they go down.

“Check-in systems are complex,” says Grant Thompson, president of the U.K. firm Aviation Business Continuity and former general manager of Terminal 1, Heathrow Airport. “They interface with other computer systems such as the baggage systems. Gone are the days when if a check-in system went down or if the baggage system failed that the passenger took their hold luggage to the gate where it was then placed on the aircraft. Disasters such as Lockerbie and 9/11 have changed every aspect of the aviation industry.”

contingency planning crucialThese days, when systems go down, contingency planning is key to managing the situation, which is not to say that the airlines haven’t made prevention their num-ber one priority. “The airlines have backup systems,” explains Thompson, “so they’ll

have a master and a slave. Some companies use Ama-deus. For airlines in Europe, the Amadeus centre itself is in a concrete bunker in a secret location, where it holds all of the information, because an airline without check-in desk information can’t pass that information on to, say, the baggage systems, to

outstations for transferring passengers, so they really rely on having a robust system in place to look after the check-in product, which is key to their business.”

In those cases where an inevitable glitch does occur, adds Thompson, “you go to a manual fall-back system where you manu-ally check-in passengers, which obviously takes slightly longer. But you have contin-gency plans in place to try to mitigate the majority of that risk. You need to manage the queues, to make sure refreshments are avail-able, for example, and that the restrooms are cleaned more frequently.”

Of course, all of that takes manpower — humans — and the increase in automa-tion over the years has meant decreases in staffing, meaning that when technology does “fall over,” as Thompson puts it, there is less staff available to fill the breech.

“What they do in the U.K.,” he says, “is they have trained back-of-house staff, so that those who normally do back-of-house admin functions then move up front to do trained-role functions in all

business conTinuiTy

When aviationtechnology Fails The more the global travel industry relies on technology, the more it needs to prepare for unexpected glitches that can have catastrophic repercussions

by Kelly parKer

When automated check-in kiosks do not work it

can cause major holdups for the airline

Volume 2 • Issue 1Disaster management canada18

of those jobs, whether it’s helping on security search tables, customer information and welfare, or queue management and queue hosting.”

That may help if the airline stays on top of that preparedness and keeps that contin-gency staff sharp. However, that is not always the case, according to Gilles Crichton, head of HSE Compliance at Glasgow Airport. The Health & Safety Executive (HSE) is a public body responsible for the regulation of risks to health and safety in the U.K. “In my experience they tend to wait until backup computer systems come back up rather than going to manual systems,” he says. “The main problem with this is that they rarely test their manual systems which results in them being unprepared to kick in their contingencies.”

strong communicationAbove all, be prepared to keep the pas-sengers well informed, advises Thompson. “Give them information and support to try to mitigate their distress — whether that is through the Internet, telephone, letters, verbal communication in one-on-one queue management and queue hosting.”

In doing so, says Thompson, try to take into account how passengers receive informa-tion during stressful situations. “It’s very

clear that you can overstress a message so that every time people hear it, they just switch off. So it’s about getting the right frequency and the right level of informa-tion across: very simple, very factual, and making sure that any PA announcement is backed up on the shop floor, that the staff down there has the right documentation to be able to support the information that the passenger has just heard across the PA.”

In the meantime, says Fitzpatrick, Air Canada is in the process of installing an entirely new web-based reservation system called Polaris to replace the existing system. “It will be much more user friendly,” he says, “far less complicated and more robust than the existing legacy system. The implementation of Polaris has been a long-term project first announced more than a year before the recent problem.” The decision to introduce the new system, he is careful to point out, had nothing to do with the late 2007 failure.

Computers being computers, however, even systems like Polaris can only do so much. Ultimately, human back-up systems will still need to work when the inevitable happens and that ghost makes its way back into the machine. DMC

plAnning AhEAdKey elements for a business continuity plan when you lose a system:s Understand the systems loss,

the potential down time and subsequent impact.

s Ensure a safe environment for staff and passengers.

s Minimize flight delays or disruption.

s Manage communication both internally and externally. Keep the passengers informed (easier said than done when the information can change quickly as a situation escalates).

s Look after the welfare of the passengers: ensure they have water and that the tempera-ture in the terminal is set at an appropriate level; supply staff on the ground to queue host, queue manage and supply information. If required, pull staff from non-operational areas to support the operation.

s Continually update stakeholders on progress.

s Continually monitor and evaluate the situation.

s Record all information.

s Once the system is fixed, look to return the operation to normal while continuing to minimize the impact on the business and the passengers.

s On stand down, review with stakeholders what happened, what went well and where improvements can be made to the system and to the business continuity plan.

Source: Grant Thompson Aviation Business Continuity

When systems go down, contingency planning is

key to managing the situation

Air canada felt the brunt of failed technology last november when it was forced to check in passengers manually


F or communities in southern Africa, seasonal flooding has become the norm. Many in the developed

world can still remember the graphic television images of the 2000 floods in Mozambique and the tremendous rescue effort led by the South African Air Force. And though these images were soon forgotten, similar flooding is becoming more common.

Heavy rains normally expected in late January and early February came much earlier this

season — in December. Not only did this catch many communities unaware, it also had a significant impact on the livelihood of already impoverished Africans.

The most affected areas were those within the Zambezi river basin in Zambia, Zimbabwe and Mozambique (see map), as opposed to the Limpopo river basin impacted in the 2000 floods. Many communities were still recovering from the previous rainy season, which meant mass evacuations and search and rescue operations.

As early as January 3, 2008 the Mozambican government declared their highest level alert for most rivers and tributaries within the river basin.

Although this intense seasonal flooding is now becoming the norm rather than the exception, questions remain regarding the disaster risk reduction and preparedness efforts of these southern African governments. If one compares the loss and intensity associated with the 2000 floods with that of 2007/8, an interesting reversed pattern emerges. Where the flood losses (in terms of lives, livelihood, infrastructure and economic activity) in 2000 were immense, the 2007/8 floods seem to have the same — and some would argue a higher — intensity with fewer losses. This is a clear indication that something in

terms of loss prevention, or dare we say disaster reduction, is clearly working.

The 2000 floods were a significant wake-up call for the affected governments within the Southern African Development Community (SADC) region. Within various governments, including Malawi, Mozambique, Zambia and South Africa, a heightened interest in making disaster reduction a priority policy issue started to emerge.

Water resource managementLinked to this was the realization that integrated and coordinated water resource management had to happen. Much of the late intense 2000 flooding in Mozambique occurred because upstream governments were compelled to shed excess water to safeguard their dams and reservoirs. This was again the case with the 2007/8 floods. Although the Zambezi Watercourse Commission (ZAMCOM) has been in existence since 2004, bureaucracy and administrative red tape hindered proper implementation of their envisaged water management and sustainable development policies.

Countries like Mozambique and Zambia have made significant strides in the development and implementation of disaster reduction legislation, policies and plans. Mozambique invested heavily in the development of an

foreign reporT

FlooDing inSouthern Africaa collective effort in disaster risk reduction appears to be working in southern africa as the region battles intense and destructive flooding

by deWald van nieKerK

A map showing the impact of recent flooding in the southern

part of Africa

Volume 2 • Issue 1Disaster management canada20

early warning system for cyclones that could move into the Mozambican channel. It also developed national legislation that governs the implementation of disaster management in Mozambique and built capacity at all levels of government and in communities.

Zambia recently completed the development of flood contingency plans for many of its regions. The reduction in losses and the utilisation of the Mozambican early warning system seemed to bear fruit. Thousands of people could be evacuated to higher grounds and the constant monitoring of the situation ensured information flow to those affected. The Zambian Disaster Management Unit reported that they implemented their contingency plans with varied success due to the newness of these untested plans.

Alongside the noticeable loss reduction and success in the implementation of the policies and plans, the harsh reality is that many southern African communities still find themselves in dire need. Already the intense flooding has resulted in considerable crop loss, heightened risk of health-related issues such as cholera and malaria, and internally displaced people. International humanitarian organizations are also gearing themselves towards prolonged intervention in

the region. The already struggling economies will once again have to bear the brunt of this natural hazard.

With the current historical data on flood occurrences, the countries of the region must be able to ensure a more significant reduction in disaster risk. Although partly true, global weather phenomena like global warming, climate change, El Nino and La Nina make it increasingly difficult for any government to do medium- to long-term planning on weather-related hazards, the fact remains that efforts towards disaster reduction cannot be focused on the natural hazard itself due to its increasing unpredictability. A major shift in thinking and budgeting is necessary, as is

CRA has assembled an elite team of professionals who are recognized authorities in crisis and emergency management, and business continuity and resumption. This dedicated group provides you with the tools needed to proceed through the maze of: Hazard and Risk Assessments Emergency Planning & Procedures Regulatory Compliance Corporate Team Structuring Integrated Contingency Planning

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Mike Kwiecien 1-800-265-6102 (Canada)Dave Hagerty 734-453-5123 (US)

Dr. Dewald van Niekerk is the director of the African Centre for Disaster Studies at North-West University, Potchefstroom Campus, in South Africa.

community vulnerability reduction through sustained and sustainable development. Such vulnerability reduction initiatives can build on existing traditional knowledge taking into consideration that many communities need help, but are not helpless. DMC

Where the flood losses in 2000 were immense, the 2007/8 floods seem to have the same intensity with fewer losses. this is a clear indication that something in terms of loss prevention is clearly working

An InstItute of technology commItted to student successwww.nait.ca/continuingeducation

eleVAte youReducAtIon


a crew of firefighters from Lacolle, Quebec is detained at the Canadian-U.S. border en route to put out a

blaze at an historic inn in New York State. By the time they finally cross the border — after an extensive security check — the historic inn they were dispatched to save has burned to the ground.

Several days later, an ambulance carrying a heart patient from Windsor, Ontario to a hospital in Detroit, Michigan is also detained. U.S. border officials ask the driver to exit the vehicle and show identification. They then open the ambulance to confirm a patient is inside and ask him to verify his name.

These two incidents, both occurring in November 2007, have sparked concern about the ease with which emergency workers can respond to a cross-border crisis. Heightening that concern are new regulations that took effect January 31, 2008. They tighten border security even more and include stringent new ID requirements, such as passports for Canadian and U.S. citizens.

Traditionally, Canada and the U.S. have worked together to promote security and facilitate their border to ensure that both countries remain open to trade and legiti-mate travelers. Decision-makers have stressed the need to continue

this cooperative relationship in the area of emergency response. “Canada and the U.S. have a great tradition and a history… of helping each other in times of need and times of crisis,” Public Safety Minister Stockwell Day said shortly after the incidents. “We want to make sure that’s maintained.”

Officials on both sides of the border say they are uncertain how the new security regulations will affect cross border emer-gency response efforts and workers. In part, this is tied to the various fluid and varied arrangements that currently govern the

issue from region to region. “There is no established protocol for facilitating the travel of emergency responders between Canada and the United States,” says Jeffrey Chapman, a spokesperson for Public Safety

Canada, which works closely with the Canada Border Services Agency (CBSA).

Rather than an international accord, communities in Canada and the U.S. have usually provided emergency response services to each other through regional agreements. These agreements generally affect firefighters, ambulance services and police.

As a result of the new security regulations, “officials from the CBSA are working with their counterparts at U.S. Customs and Border Protection at the local level to ensure ease of movement for emergency

Clearing the borDerWith heightened security at the canada-u.s. border, public safety officials look at ways to ensure emergency responders can continue crossing with ease

by naTalia a. feduschaK

While emergency response workers are subject to the

same laws as anyone crossing the border, provincial officials regularly liaise with federal structures to ensure they

can avoid the lineups


response

Disaster management canada22

responders for the continued safety of the local population,” says Chapman. “Minister Day has expressed his concerns on this issue to his U.S. counterpart, Secretary (Michael) Chertoff, who has agreed that effective coordination of emergency response efforts between our two countries is critical. Discussions are ongoing.”

infrequent hold-ups It is difficult to quantify the number of cross border emergency responses that occur on the Canadian-U.S.border. However, individuals working in the emergency response field say that despite the media attention garnered by the detainments in Hamilton and Lacolle, such events are rare and emergency workers typically cross the border with ease.

The Niagara region in Ontario, for instance, which is home to one of Canada’s busiest border crossings, has not had any border hold-ups of emergency workers in two decades. The municipality has had an effective emergency response agreement

with its U.S. neighbours since 1988, says Sean Bertleff, program manager for emer-gency management at the Public Health Department, Emergency Services Division of the Regional Municipality of Niagara.

According to Bertleff, good communication and organization have been critical to the province’s success in managing cross border emergency services. The municipality has a cross border contingency plan in place and it is part of an international joint committee. The plan is frequently reviewed by the committee and local emergency officials, and cross border training exercises are common. “One of the things that we do very, very well on the local level is have the relationships in place,” says Bertleff. He adds that the municipality has all the “back door” numbers to contact the appropriate agencies should a cross border emergency occur.

At the end of the day, even in a typical emergency situation, response workers are subject to the same laws as anyone else crossing the border. However, to streamline

the process and ensure there aren’t any border delays, provincial officials regularly liaise with federal structures, who make sure

emergency workers are unhampered. Border and customs services are also kept in the loop. Frequently, the emergency team will be dispatched to a specific border crossing, such as crossings that have an additional lane opened so border checks can be done quickly.

The events in Windsor and Lacolle, however, did act as an impetus for Niagara’s emer-gency services to hold an informal meeting with their U.S. counterparts as well as customs and border agencies to review the emergency plans currently in place. “We wanted to make sure that we had all of our checks and balances as good as we thought so in the event we were sending assistance either to the United States, or them to us, those types of things wouldn’t happen,” says Bertleff. “It all comes down to communication.”

To more effectively serve the community, Bertleff says the cross border contingency plan is currently being restructured. The

there have been at least two recent incidences of

ambulances and fire fighters being held up at the canada-u.s. border

“there is no established protocol for facilitating the travel of emergency responders between canada and the united states”

Jeffrey chapman, public safety canada

Continuity Shield

[email protected]

416-561-3770

BUSINESS CONTINUITY

Design Implement Test


focus now is to “cluster” emergency services related to public security, such as HAZMAT and public safety, human needs, critical infrastructure and economic security.

influencing lawmakersAnother of those clusters is political advocacy. A challenge for responders on both sides of the border is making sure lawmakers understand how their rules can affect the smooth functioning of emergency services. Niagara has already greatly benefited from the work done by Stephen Brereton, the Canadian council general to Buffalo, New York, who Bertleff calls a “keen political advocate” for the Niagara region.

Rather than an international accord, communities in canada

and the u.s. have usually provided emergency response

services to each other through regional agreements

Through seminars and meetings, Brereton has provided the Niaga-ra region with the opportunity to talk about cross border structures at higher levels of government in both Canada and New York State. This in turn has allowed policy makers on both sides of the border to know what the region and its U.S. counterparts are doing in cross border emergency response so they do not take action that would interfere with its successful functioning.

On the U.S. side, emergency workers are also waiting to see how the new security measures will affect them. “It’s an unknown,” says Eric Day, director of the Clinton County Office of Emergency Services in New York. Day’s county has had a mutual aid agreement in place with Quebec — as well as Vermont and New York — since the 1950s. The communities frequently carry out emergency response exercises and have a system in place similar to that in the Niagara municipality. The border in his jurisdiction is crossed by emergency responders between 12 and 15 times each year, mostly by firefighters, says Day.

Nothing has changed in Day’s jurisdiction since the much-publicized delays in November, although fire fighters have been warned to carry photo ID. “Every time you cross the border you are stopped and you get questioned,” he says. “I wouldn’t say it has been more or less difficult to cross the borders since then.”

Meanwhile, many emergency workers in both Canada and the U.S. are looking to the NEXUS program as a possible answer to the current strict security regulations. NEXUS is a joint customs and immigration program for frequent travelers that both the Canadian and American governments have implemented. It is designed to expedite the border clearance process for low-risk, pre-approved travelers into Canada and the U.S. DMC

For more information about the new regulations, visit CBSA’s website at www.cbsa-asfc.gc.ca.

stringent new regulations require Americans and

canadians to show passports when crossing the border

response

According to canadian public safety Minister stockwell day,

canada and the u.s. have to make sure their history of

helping each other in times of crisis is maintained


F acilitating an effective tabletop exercise is a key requirement of any successful disaster management

program. For the past 15 years, I have effectively conducted dozens of simulations and sought to apply lessons learned to improve each subsequent exercise. Some of these exercises were business oriented while others leaned more toward technology.

The business-oriented tabletop exercises focused on the recovery of critical business processes and involved the participation of business users. Technology exercises consisted of recovering the information technology infrastructure and critical software applications. Regardless of orientation, a standard set of steps emerged that proved to be essential for conducting a successful exercise.

Following is an accumulation of the experiences and lessons learned from these many exercises.

benefits Conducting the perfect tabletop exercise is not as difficult as it seems, and there are several benefits one can derive from such a simulation, including:

w validation: a successful exercise can validate the contents, accuracy, thoroughness

and usefulness of a department’s business continuity plan.

w commitment: it can also demonstrate to executive management, auditors and regulatory agencies the company’s commitment to conducting thorough, professional and robust testing of its business continuity plans.

w improvement: by conducting an effective lesson learned session, effective improvement actions can easily be identified, prioritized, assigned and scheduled for completion.

w Teamwork: bringing together individuals from business departments, information technology and in some cases external suppliers can help improvement teamwork and communication among these diverse groups of people.

pre-exercise stepsThe following describe the 14 steps, and the proper sequence, that should be per-formed prior to a tabletop exercise. While some of these tasks may seem obvious, such as collating the materials, they are easy to overlook and are worth noting.

1. Select the business unit that will participate in the tabletop exercise.

2. Identify the business continuity plan sponsor for this business unit.

Planning the perfect tabletop exercisefollowing some simple, concise steps can help turn your next tabletop exercise into a success, says expert rich schiesser

by rich schiesser

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3. Send out an email invitation to the plan sponsor.

4. Schedule the meeting with the plan sponsor per his response.

5. Prepare various materials — such as objectives, participants and assumptions — to discuss with the plan sponsor.

6. Conduct the meeting with the plan sponsor to discuss the following:

• objectives of the exercise • identification of participants • optimal date and time of exercise • optimal number of locations and specific sites • appropriateness of scenario • number and type of unplanned events • assumptions • agenda for the exercise

7. Check on availability of participants and locations.

8. Send out an invitation email.

9. Schedule the meeting.

10. Request a post-it note flipchart paper and an easel, and ensure the room has whiteboards.

11. Print the appropriate number of copies of the exercise materials.

12. Staple agenda, objectives, assumptions, voting form and session evaluation form together.

13. Develop an attendance sheet and bring it to the exercise.

14. Keep copies of the following materials separate: scenario, unplanned events, lessons learned voting form.

Exercise stepsBegin and continue the exercise with the following 11 steps. These tasks apply for exercises involving the recovery of either business processes or technical services.

1. Pass out initial material: • agenda • objectives • assumptions • plans • session evaluation

2. Circulate the attendance sheet for everyone to sign.

3. Discuss the agenda, objectives and assumptions.

4. Discuss the ground rules, time-lining and roles.

5. Pass out the scenario.

6. Ensure everyone understands the scenario.

7. Instruct the timekeeper to initiate the time-line.

8. Instruct the scribe to begin scribing.

9. Periodically distribute copies of unplanned events.

10. Issue a warning ten minutes prior to the end of the exercise.

11. End the exercise on time.

post-exercise stepsThe first three post-exercise steps should be performed immediately following the exercise. The follow-up meeting should be conducted within two weeks of the exercise.

1. Conduct a ‘lessons learned’ session. Use round robin brainstorming to identify what was done well and what could be

improved. Use the nominal group technique to quickly and easily prioritize the responses.

2. Advise participants to fill out a session evaluation.

3. Collaborate with participants on the best date, time and location to conduct a follow-up meeting to discuss the results of the ‘lessons learned’ session.

4. Compile the results of the exercise, lessons learned and evaluations in a session summary report.

5. Schedule a follow-up meeting.

6. Conduct a follow-up meeting to discuss the results of voting, session evaluations and assignment and scheduling of action items.

7. Document the description, assignment and scheduling of action items; ensure that those responsible commit to the actions and to the committed completion dates.

8. Track the action items to completion. This may take weeks or even months but it is worth the effort.

These steps are based on many years of experience in conducting these types of activities, and they apply equally well to the recovery of business processes or to technical infrastructures. By following these guidelines, you can turn your potentially nightmarish simulation into the perfect dream of an exercise. DMC

Rich Schiesser is founder and president of RWS Enterprises, Inc., a consulting company specializing in business continuity and IT infrastructure management. He will be presenting a paper on tabletop exercises at the World Disaster Manage-ment Conference in Toronto in June.

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