Everyone in the US and maybe in the world seems to know about the impact that Hurricane Sandy had on the Northeastern part of the United States. The scope of the devastation resulting from Hurricane Sandy is absolutely devastating with the aftermath of recovering from it almost more difficult than weathering the storm itself. If anything, Hurricane Sandy highlights just how difficult it is to plan for a disaster and the many different and unexpected ways companies need to be prepared to respond to a disaster.
Right now I am in Springfield, MO, attending a home school basketball tournament with my middle son and, in between games, I was watching some of the coverage of Hurricane Sandy’s aftermath on FOX News. In short, it is nothing less than unbelievable. But what is more shocking than its devastation is the degree to which it has crippled normal activities up and down the coast in unexpected ways.
- In New York City commuters are looking at 3 -4 hour commute times to and from work as all vehicles must have at least three (3) people in them before crossing the bridge.
- In New Jersey, people are looking at going days or even weeks without power.
- In New Jersey, those who were prepared with generators to provide power are finding themselves without gas to power their generators. A report on Fox News showed that 60% of the gasoline supply to the Northeast has been cut off at least temporarily, many gas stations cannot dispense gas because they have no power and those with gas are selling out of gas in as quickly three (3) hours. Aggravating the situation, those lucky enough to find gas stations with gas need to wait 3-4 hours in lines to purchase gas. Long waits increase the probability the station may run out of gas just as they get their turn to fillup.
- Alternative means of transportation are not viable either. Taxis are not running because they cannot get gas either. Public transportation routes are under water or disabled because they have no power.
All of these issues illustrate just how difficult it is to do contingency planning for disasters of this magnitude and brings into question if it is even possible for a business to have a plan that accounts for every possible event Even DCIG, though located in the middle of the country, has been affected as its graphic artist who does its layout work lives in New Jersey.
I have communicated with him almost daily and he and his family are thankfully doing fine – or at least as well as they can be under the circumstance. Further his place of business was not damaged and all of his data is secure. The bad news is that since Hurricane Sandy hit, he has been pulling his hair out (or what little he has left) trying to figure out how to bring his business back online again.
Power has been restored to all of the businesses on his street right up to and next to his business. Unfortunately his is still without power. While he could theoretically work from home, he has no power there either.
He has thought about getting a generator but without access to gas and the nearest gas station with gas at least a 45 minute drive away, he sees no point in doing. Right now he wonders if it is worth moving him and his family for a few days further south or inland until power is restored to his home. Yet with power being restored to the streets adjacent to his home and the businesses right next door to his business getting power, should he just wait a couple of more days and hope for the best?
Right now to communicate with the outside world he is using his cell phone to send and receive email messages. (This is why I even know about his predicament.) To keep his phone charged, he has to occasionally turn his car on so he can recharge the batteries on his phone.
While he thought that would suffice, he did not anticipate being without power and gas for this length of time so even his ability to communicate with the outside world is becoming a concern since he does not want his car to run out of gas just to keep his cell phone charged.
Even my offers to send him supplies (generators, gasoline, food, etc.) have been politely declined by him. He points out that no delivery trucks are running in the area where he lives and, even if they were, by the time he does get the supplies, the crisis may have either passed or he will have moved somewhere else.
The ironic part is that from a disaster recovery perspective he has done everything a small businessman can do. He has two sites where he can conduct business. He backs his data up. He stores his data in the cloud. He has a cell phone. Even in today’s age, that is a pretty comprehensive approach to disaster recovery. Yet here he sits three days after Hurricane Sandy hits with no power and no clear sense of direction of what to do next.
Hurricane Sandy and my business friend highlight the two shortcomings of most disaster recovery plans: the human element and external forces over which businesses have no control.
On the first point, getting your business up and going is a great idea but my business friend has no power and a wife and kids who like to eat and keep warm. Forgive him and me if we both think that taking care of his family takes priority over bringing his business back online.
This concept of first bringing the family back online should possibly be as important and arguably should even take priority over bringing the business back online. Once the family is back online and safe, it frees the individual to turn his/her entire focus to the business without being distracted.
The other aspect that businesses should consider including in their DR planning is an “other” category. This “other” category would include factors such as the mayor of New York City deciding every car that crosses any bridge coming into Manhattan needs to have a minimum of three (3) people in it. Or that you have generators but all of the supply lines for gas in your part of the country have been cut off so you cannot get gas..
When these occur, identifying these as factors that fall in the “other” category can help avoid finger pointing and hopefully serve to minimize some of the anger and frustration that are bound to occur not during the disaster but in its aftermath.