DISASTER RECOVERY
JOURNAL

Return to the Winter 2001
Index

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Michelle Saab
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INTERNATIONAL
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Business Continuity
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Australia: Anthony J. Harvey
Journal of Business Continuity
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fax: 0011-613-953-0528
sector@notability.com.au

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

Brazil: Jose Carlos Ferreira
Disaster Recovery Mercosul
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conc2000@uol.com.br
ww.drms.com.br

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prioritizing prevention: making your community care

- by James Lee Witt

Natural disasters are an unfortunate reality for communities across the United States. Each year, hurricanes, floods, tornadoes, earthquakes and other disasters indiscriminately inflict billions of dollars of damage to homes and businesses across the country. In 1999 alone, 50 disasters struck 37 states and the U.S. Virgin Islands, costing more than $1 billion in relief from the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA). The year was no anomaly; in the past five years, FEMA has spent over $11.5 billion in response to disasters.
Because disasters can devastate entire communities, it is important for everyone to work together to prevent the damage. This spirit of collaboration is at the very heart of FEMA’s Project Impact: Building Disaster Resistant Communities, an initiative launched in 1997 to prepare and protect communities against disaster damage. Through this grass roots program, businesses, civic leaders, the media and individual citizens come together to form partnerships and enact strategies that will make their communities disaster resistant.
Unfortunately, at times motivating the rest of the community, especially businesses, to buy into disaster prevention efforts can seem like a daunting task. While most businesses are committed to disaster relief and recovery efforts, it’s not always a natural extension of this commitment to invest their own resources in activities that will mitigate disaster effects.
The key motivator to use when building support for a disaster prevention program is that everyone benefits-loss reduction efforts undertaken by local governments naturally support corporate risk reduction and vice versa. Corporate America’s responsibilities to both business and community are both complementary and interwoven. It is this role of responsibility that must be leveraged to build successful partnerships. At the same time, these potential partners must receive a real return on their investment.
Project Impact and disaster prevention measures offer businesses clear benefits to their involvement in community efforts. Protecting their businesses means not only protecting their bottom line from the effects of a disaster, but also enhancing economic viability by heightening visibility within the community and expanding the market for their products.
If a company takes Project Impact prevention measures in its own facilities, it automatically boosts its chances of remaining economically stable in the face of disaster. Not only will it sustain fewer costly damages during a disaster, it also will be more likely to reopen following a disaster, continuing to generate revenue and provide steady income to employees. But a commitment to disaster resistance also extends outside the business. By joining Project Impact, businesses help the economic stability of the community by providing employees with a job to which they can return.
Businesses joining Project Impact become leaders within the community, creating a ripple effect that easily can result in increased business. In this role, the business is likely to be seen in a favorable light and position itself as a company-of-choice because of its commitment. This, in turn, leads to greater visibility, and potentially, new customers and increased revenue.
One example of a business positioned as a community resource for disaster prevention information is the Barnes & Noble store in Wilmington, N.C., one of Project Impact’s seven pilot communities. When Debbie Pratt moved to Wilmington to take over as the store’s community relations director, she found herself facing an oncoming hurricane and had no idea what to do to protect herself, her family or her home. Frightened and unsure about where to find information, she decided to use the store as a resource for other local residents to arm themselves with knowledge.
Throughout the year, Barnes & Noble carries books and information about hurricane safety. On June 1, the store launches a weeklong annual hurricane season kick-off event, where shoppers have access to safety information and displays throughout the store. Local weathermen compete in a trivia contest. Children participate in disaster safety poster and poetry contests, as well as receive information and literature suitable for younger audiences. Pratt even extends the program to reach hearing impaired and Hispanic customers.
As a result, many in the community turn to Barnes & Noble when they need a reliable resource for understanding disasters and how to protect themselves. Thousands of customers attend the kick-off event annually. Pratt continually receives calls from residents seeking information. The store’s efforts have not only raised awareness within the community, they have also increased business.
Even when partnerships start out small, they can grow into something incredibly effective. Businesses in Seattle, another Project Impact pilot community, began their efforts by collaborating to make Seattle resistant to earthquakes and other natural disasters. Through Seattle’s Home Earthquake Retrofit Program, banks, insurance companies and professional building associations have come together with universities and government agencies to provide a comprehensive package of tool lending libraries, seismic retrofitting training, accelerated building permitting and special incentive loans at or below market rate to encourage home retrofitting.
The program has been so successful that two of the corporate partners involved, Washington Mutual Bank and Bank of America, were singled out as Model Corporate Partners for their disaster prevention loan packaging at the first Project Impact Summit in 1998.
Today the Home Retrofit Program has extended beyond a community project to become a regional effort, working to retrofit more than 250,000 homes in Washington State. Washington Mutual Bank and Bank of America, along with all project partners, are demonstrating to other communities how disaster prevention can inspire a wide range of participants to invest in their community.
Seattle’s program and the Barnes & Noble outreach are successful because all stakeholders in each initiative see value and potential return in the work they are doing. Recruiting partners to prevent disaster damage should not be difficult if participants understand the importance of disaster prevention and what they can gain from involvement. Project Impact gives businesses and organizations the opportunity to stand out as community leaders and be recognized for their participation, as well as to help secure the safety of the community.
Any business, from a nationwide corporate powerhouse to the small corner store, can get involved, contributing to the effort of making America’s communities disaster resistant. And because disasters affect everyone, all businesses have some stake in the problem.
Once you have everyone working together, you will find that the entire community can stand behind Project Impact because its goal is to protect the well being and secure the future of everyone in the community. And when the next disaster strikes, your community will be ready.

James Lee Witt has been the director of the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) since April 1993. As FEMA director, Mr. Witt coordinates for President Clinton the response and recovery activities of 28 federal agencies and departments.
FEMA offers numerous publications to assist businesses, communities and individuals in becoming “Disaster Resistant.” To receive these publications or learn more about Project Impact: Building Disaster Resistant Communities, visit the FEMA web site at www.fema.gov/impact.