Disaster Recovery Journal- Volume 18, Issue 3 - Summer 2005 Issue

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Summer 2005 Index

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

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

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

SENIOR EDITOR
Janette Ballman
janette@drj.com

ASSOCIATE EDITOR
Ed Pearce, CBCP
ed@drj.com

ASSISTANT EDITOR
Pamela Clifton
pamelaclifton@hotmail.com

COPY EDITORS
Jim Hammill, CBCP
Richard Sandhofer
richards@drj.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
Mike Croy, Forsythe
Jeff Dato, MBCP, KPMG
John Jackson
Edward S. Devlin, E.S. Devlin & Associates
James Hammill, CBCP, JMH Consulting Inc.
Pat McAnally, SunGard Availability Services
Brian Turley, Strohl Systems
Belinda Wilson, Hewlett-Packard

INTERNATIONAL
CONTACTS
England: Thom Hetherington
Business Continuity
Phone: 0161-237-1007
thomh@tempus.demon.co.uk
Japan: Shinji Hosotsubo
Crisis Management and Preparedness Organization
Phone: 03-3519-6270
fax: 03-3519-6255
hosotsubo@cmpo.org
Brazil: José Carlos Ferreira
Disaster Recovery Mercosul
Phone and fax: 011-3666-9506
jocaff@uol.com.br

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Prepare For Another Busy Hurricane Season

By Richard L. Arnold, CBCP

It is hard to believe, but hurricane season is underway again. The season officially runs June 1 through Nov. 30. Since the 2004 season was so destructive, a lot more attention is being given to them this year.
The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) has predicted this season to again be worse than average. Forecasters predict 15 named storms will form, with eight of those becoming hurricanes. The long-term average number of named storms is 9.6, with 5.9 hurricanes and 2.3 intense hurricanes per year, states the NOAA.
As you can see, it may be a repeat of 2004 when five hurricanes hit the United States, four in Florida. The 2004 hurricane season caused $22 billion in insured damage and 130 deaths in the United States.
In recent weeks, my office has received several news briefs on hurricane safety and preparedness tips. I feel this advice is important and wanted to share it with you.
Some of the tips include:
• Establish a clear communications method well before a storm strikes. Make sure employees and customers can be easily notified and kept up-to-date. Designate a company spokesman and have backup personnel in place.
• Prioritize your critical operations and equipment. Determine the importance of data, software and hardware and make sure appropriate backup plans are in place, including off site storage if appropriate.
• Test your evacuation plans and crisis communications plans thoroughly with your employees. In addition, test your communications plans with your staff.
• Listen to local authorities when voluntary evacuations are issued and plan accordingly. Make use of the early warning to put your crisis plan in action.
As with all disasters, the key is preparedness. Check DRJ’s Web site for further information on preparedness issues. In the chat board section, you will find a section dedicated exclusively to recent disasters.
If you attended our last conference, Spring World 2005, you had the chance to hear several case studies on the 2004 hurricane season. If you missed those, join us at Fall World 2005 where you will find a number of sessions that will help you prepare for hurricanes or any other business interruption.
I remember in 1999, our fall conference was held on the east coast in Orlando. That year, Hurricane Floyd was on a direct path for central Florida – and the conference – causing quite a commotion. Many of our exhibitors were on alert and some were forced to leave early. Attendees, too, left early in order to return to businesses that might be affected by the storm. Those who didn’t leave early were stuck in Orlando for a while. All flights into Orlando prior to the storm were re-routed, so even when the weather passed there weren’t enough planes to cover departing flights for a few days. Local highways were filled with bumper-to-bumper traffic.
Since then, we have switched our fall conference to the west coast. It turned out to be a wise move – as last season’s hurricanes proved. If we had been in Orlando in 2004, our conference would have been severely impacted. It is not unheard of for a hurricane to do major damage late in the season. Hurricane Michelle and Hurricane Lenny are just two November hurricanes to hit Florida in recent years.
DRJ’s Fall World 2005 is planned for Sept. 18-21 in beautiful San Diego, Calif. You won’t need to worry about a hurricane affecting this conference! You’ll only need to find the time to soak up all the information that will be offered.
We already have more than 550 registered. Hurry to sign up in order to qualify for early registration discounts. You can download a copy of the conference brochure on the Web site or call our office at (314) 894-0276.
I look forward to seeing you all in September in San Diego.