DISASTER RECOVERY 
JOURNAL

P. O. Box 510110
St. Louis, MO 63151
(314) 894-0276 
Fax: (314) 894-7474
Internet www.drj.com 
E-mail drj@drj.com

PUBLISHER
Richard L. Arnold, CBCP
richard@drj.com

EDITOR-IN-CHIEF
Jon Seals
jon@drj.com

SENIOR EDITOR
Janette Ballman
janette@drj.com

COPY EDITORS
Richard Sandhofer
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Pamela Clifton
pamelaclifton@hotmail.com

ADVERTISING 
Robert Arnold
bob@drj.com

_____________

Corporate

President/CEO
Richard L. Arnold, CBCP
richard@drj.com

Vice President 
Robert Arnold
bob@drj.com

CONFERENCE COORDINATOR
Patti Fitzgerald, CBCP
patti@drj.com

CONFERENCE REGISTRAR
Merce Knese
mercedes@drj.com

CIRCULATION
Laura Baugh
laurab@drj.com

EXECUTIVE COUNCIL
Jeff Dato, MBCP, KPMG
John Jackson, J Albright Advisors
Edward Devlin, E.S. Devlin & Associates
James Hammill, CBCP, JMH Consulting
Pat McAnally, SunGard Availability
Brian Turley, Strohl Systems
Belinda Wilson, Hewlett-Packard


INTERNATIONAL
CONTACTS
England: Thom Hetherington
Business Continuity 
Phone: 0161-237-1007
thomh@tempus.demon.co.uk

Australia: Anthony J. Harvey
Journal of Business Continuity
Phone: 0011-613-953-0055-8
fax: 0011-613-953-0528
sector@notability.com.au

Japan: Shinji Hosotsubo
Quake Japan Co., Ltd.
Phone: 03-3215-2880
fax: 03-3215-2881

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Transitioning From Critical Infrastructure Reconstruction to IT Infrastructure Development in New Orleans

By GARY HIGGINS

Blues master Guitar Gabriel gave a good summary of recovery efforts in New Orleans since the onslaught of Hurricane Katrina.
“Came so far,” he said. “Got a long way to go.”
While there has been significant progress in the reconstruction effort, the amount of work left to do is astounding. To date, a major challenge to reconstruction is coordinating the efforts of groups in the private and public sectors involved in the process, as well as creating a centralized authority for re-development project oversight. An effective recovery effort hinges upon project coordination brought about through the creation of a centralized governing body with project oversight and progress monitoring as their sole priority.
From a human perspective, gaining consensus in standard protocol is one barrier to complete collaboration in the reconstruction effort; however, from a logistical perspective, technology holds great promise for fostering collaboration between contractors and government agencies. There are many technological applications that can be employed as a means of stimulating the reconstruction process as well as fostering collaboration between the private and public sectors. Rapid assessment and temporary infrastructure technologies offer a convenient, affordable, and immediate means of providing needed utilities while laying the groundwork for long-term planning. These types of technologies have the potential to serve as catalysts for further development and the eventual repopulating of the city.

Communication (Infrastructure) is Key
Due to the extensive flooding and winds in New Orleans from Hurricane Katrina, much of the communications infrastructure was submerged and/or destroyed. Technicians were unable to access sites needing repairs or replace fuel for back-up generators supporting systems after commercial power went out. The first step in a cohesive reconstruction effort is the implementation of a temporary communications infrastructure. This is a crucial step in that in order for contractors and government agencies to coordinate their efforts they first have to be able to communicate effectively.
With terrestrial systems rendered largely useless by storm winds and flood waters, many rescue organizations turned to satellite-based networks as a means of communication. The utility of portable rugged satellite-based systems became apparent during initial stages of the New Orleans reconstruction effort, and were extremely helpful in enabling interagency communications.
In the months after the storm, much of the terrestrial infrastructure has been rebuilt or redirected. Many of the fiber trunks that supported the local phone and data service providers have been re-laid across the north shore of Lake Pontchartrain and now connect to the city with redundant access. Business services continue to be restored along these fiber trunks and many of the flooded switching faculties are being brought back online as power is made available. Cellular service has also gotten progressively better as power has been restored to the service towers, or portable temporary units have been installed to increase coverage zones and bandwidth.

‘Sequencing’ the Reconstruction
After the implementation of temporary communications infrastructure, there are three major steps involved in a successful reconstruction effort: clean up (including debris removal and purifying the city of toxic residue caused by the flood waters), utility and basic infrastructure restoration (including ensuring that sewer systems are working and that there is clean water, electricity, etc.), and finally, rebuilding/reconstruction (including assessing the current infrastructure to determine whether the systems can be repaired or if they need to be rebuilt altogether).
In practice, these are integrated processes and require a great deal of coordination and synchronization. Sequencing of events and extensive and continual project planning is necessary to ensure that the reconstruction process is carried out efficiently in an orderly manner.
The importance of proper sequencing of reconstruction efforts is cited in a Congressional Quarterly report published in early October 2005. The article emphasizes the interdependency of groups involved in reconstruction efforts by highlighting the process involved in repairing phone services:
“In order to restore telephone service to the storm-stricken areas, phone companies must wait for the power and electricity to be restored to homes which cannot happen without an inspection by the city of New Orleans.”
Without central oversight and sequencing of initiatives, the reconstruction process becomes a log-jam with isolated projects limiting, and in some cases hindering, efforts to rebuild the city.
Critical infrastructure reconstruction in New Orleans includes rebuilding and repairing hundreds of miles of sewer, gas, water, phone, and electric lines. In order to rebuild and/or repair these amenities, it is crucial that debris removal be coordinated with accompanying reconstruction efforts. While simple in theory, the sheer magnitude of debris scattered throughout New Orleans has left reconstruction workers overwhelmed. The best approach thus far has been to assign contracts by zone so that companies are attached to debris removal in a certain number of city blocks and are responsible solely for their designated territory.
From these initial efforts, it can be concluded that a holistic approach to project management, one that factors in the interdependency of the different tasks involved in the reconstruction, would increase productivity as well as result in greater project continuity. The establishment of a centralized authority to oversee and assist with the coordination of different projects involved in the reconstruction would help maximize the efficiency of individual projects, contributing to the greater effort as a whole.
After the storm, during the initial stages of the recovery effort, the magnitude of the devastation was overwhelming for those responsible for recovery and planning. Many of the initial projects were carried out in isolation, which in certain instances, hindered the overall progress of the remediation and recovery effort. As different organizations began focusing on specific areas and private sector service companies began restoring their service areas, many activities were forced to coordinate as a function of business preservation and cost control. For example, telephone and cable companies are working with debris removal companies to ensure that their repairs follow behind debris cleanup efforts. Due to this effort, recently repaired junction boxes were not damaged by the following cleanup effort, which otherwise would have created a need for additional repair activity and increased cost and service delay. Minimal efforts such as these can maximize the efficiency of reconstruction initiatives.

The Role of Technology in Project Management
There are many examples of technologies that, when employed with a heightened focus on project coordination, can help to maximize the collective progress of individual contractors and government agencies. For example, CAD drawings of the New Orleans sewer system can be pulled from online data stores and compared with GIS images to help determine the areas that are most severely damaged, what kind of damage contractors are looking at, and what obstacles stand in the path of repair/reconstruction efforts. Those contractors responsible for debris removal could then go in and remove anything obstructing access to sewer lines so that breaks could be repaired and pipes could be cleared.
Similarly, technologies that offer rapid assessment of utilities can speed reconstruction efforts. An article in the February 2006 issue of Public CIO demonstrates how rapid assessment technologies were utilized with great success during the initial stages of the reconstruction process. The author of the article cites an example of when New Orleans city officials had a six-week deadline to determine whether it was safe for residents to return to 110,000 homes. In this example, “[IT vendors] offered technology to automate permitting and inspections. A Wi-Fi network was constructed based on mesh technology, and rugged notebooks complete with GPS capabilities were used as system hubs. Internal teams wrote code to automate the GPS linkup with the GIS database, effectively mapping all aspects of the effort. Within a rapid timeframe and out of total devastation, one of the most state-of-the-art inspection and permitting systems in the country was created.”
Another potential cutting-edge technology that could be of similar assistance are sensor systems that can be run through the miles of sewer lines to detect for breaches, back-up, and contamination. Devices like these allow workers to target and organize reconstruction efforts around the sections of the city that are in the greatest need of repair, and in doing so, aid in synchronization of efforts. Rapid assessment technologies also allow reconstruction workers to determine what systems can be salvaged and what systems need to be entirely rebuilt in an efficient manner, helping to save time, money, and valuable resources.

Reconstruction’s Role in Recovery
The speed at which the city of New Orleans will be able to fully recuperate from its losses depends on whether the city’s residents, currently dispersed along the Gulf Coast and throughout the country, decide to return. To date, three-quarters of the city’s 460,000 residents have yet to go back to their former homes. It is a Catch 22 in that while standards of living need to be acceptable in order to entice the city’s resident’s to return, many businesses as well as the federal government are understandably hesitant to invest in the area without the assurance that people will eventually take back their former neighborhoods. Businesses that do make the leap and reopen are doomed to failure if there is not a sufficient population to support them. The situation is time sensitive as well in that the longer the reconstruction process is drawn out, the more comfortable those who are dispersed will become in their temporary residencies.
The implementation of infrastructure through technological applications serves as a catalyst for further development and ultimately the repopulation of New Orleans’ neighborhoods. Technology has the power to radically alter short-term and long-term standards of living for those returning to the city. The Katrina disaster was bittersweet in that while it reduced much of the Gulf Coast Region to rubble; it also exposed the extent of plight of many of New Orleans’ underdeveloped neighborhoods. Rebuilding many of the city’s low-income areas back from scratch provides the opportunity for Internet access and WiFi networks to be incorporated, resulting in increased access to educational tools and workforce development. It also provides the opportunity to put in place disaster warning and emergency communications that can be used to prevent another disaster situation like that resulting from Hurricane Katrina.
Subsequently, many organizations and government agencies have been looking at the planning for the reconstruction and how technology can be infused. Recently some private organizations have also joined in the development initiatives by hiring urban planners and regional architects to provide options for the overall rebuilding of New Orleans. Several of the local medical facilities have teamed with facilities from other states to incorporate best practices in their reconstruction planning.

Conclusion
The extent of damage caused by Hurricane Katrina puts the reconstruction effort into perspective as there has never before been a need for a response of such magnitude. Considering that Hurricane Katrina is the worst natural disaster to have struck the U.S. in recent history, federal and local agencies had virtually no experience to draw from during the initial response. The early stages of the reconstruction process involved a drastic learning curve. The take-away will ultimately determine whether the reconstruction effort was a failure or a success.
Response workers are already drawing from the initial stages of the reconstruction process to gain a better idea of what has been done right and what needs to be improved, and can use this insight to tailor current initiatives. Considering that many of the systems and solutions being employed are emerging technologies, the full extent of their capabilities has yet to be realized. Application in real-life crisis scenarios is crucial to mastery of the technology and realization of its limitations. Hurricane Katrina, while devastating in its consequences, continues to serve as an incredible learning experience, demonstrating the ways in which technology can be employed to save lives and raise standards of living.

Gary Higgins brings more than 20 years of experience in the federal information technology market to his role as senior vice president and chief technology officer of Apogen Technologies. Prior to joining Apogen in 2002, Higgins held corporate management positions at SAIC and The Boeing Company.

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