Experts Offer Insight Into Disaster Preparedness

Posted Wednesday, Jun 14, 2006

With Alberto, the first storm of the 2006 hurricane season, having formed and weakened to a tropical depression this week, the advice offered at last month's BookExpo America panel "Coping With Disaster: What to Do When Catastrophe Strikes" is particularly timely. And, as panel participant Scott Naugle, owner of Pass Christian Books, in Pass Christian, Mississippi, which was destroyed by Hurricane Katrina, warned the audience, disaster can come in many guises, ranging from natural disasters to computer viruses.


Dr. Irwin Redlener

The panel, moderated by ABA COO Oren Teicher, also featured Dr. Irwin Redlener, director of Columbia University's National Center for Disaster Preparedness, co-founder of the Children's Health Fund, and author of Americans at Risk: Why We Are Not Prepared for Megadisasters and What We Need to Do Now (Knopf), and Wall Street Journal reporters Robert Block and Christopher Cooper, authors of Disaster: Hurricane Katrina & the Failure of Homeland Security (Henry Holt).

ABA had convened the panel, Teicher noted, because "there have been disasters in the past, and there will be disasters in the future," and Hurricane Katrina had demonstrated the urgent need for booksellers to formulate a disaster plan.

Each of the panelists offered a unique perspective on the devastation wrought by Hurricane Katrina and its aftermath, as well as suggestions for concrete steps that individuals and businesses can take to prepare for any type of disaster.

Pass Christian Books Pass Christian, MS

Mid-August 2005

August 30, 2005

Hurricane Katrina caused a 30-foot storm surge that completely destroyed Scott Naugle's Pass Christian Bookstore. It washed away the reinforced concrete and brick building, and "not even a paperclip was left," he said as he showed pre- and post-Katrina slides of the bookstore.

A "disaster of proportions that defy imagination" is how Redlener described Katrina's aftermath. To give a sense of its scope, he compared Hurricane Andrew, which destroyed 300-square miles, with Katrina, which has affected 100,000. In the first six months after Katrina, under his direction the Children's Health Fund saw more than 13,000 patients at over 35 sites, including patients in Mississippi and Louisiana and evacuees in Houston, Dallas, and Austin, Texas.

Katrina actually caused two disasters, explained Redlener. The first was the "telegenic" hurricane and flooding that evoked worldwide sympathy. The second, "far more dangerous" disaster was the conditions of those living in New Orleans and the Gulf area now -- without services, stability, or proper healthcare or housing. The children in the area are suffering from the worst trauma Redlener has seen in 35 years, and their condition, he noted, is exacerbated by the fact that conditions have remained highly stressful for months on end and no one knows when life will return to normal.


Robert Block
(photo: Ethan Block)


Christopher Cooper
(photo courtesy of the Author)

Cooper and Block, whose book Disaster will be published in August, described how their interviews with federal, state, and local officials revealed the mismanagement of the Federal Emergency Management Agency and the Department of Homeland Security during Hurricane Katrina.

Block explained, "We wanted to write the book because of the absurdity that took place during the aftermath [of Katrina]. During the precious hours right after the storm, when lives were being lost, the people in charge were arguing about whether or not the levees were broken." He noted, "If my house is burning down, I don't want to know if it's because of a cigarette or a lighter."

In terms of a business, Naugle explained that a disaster can "really be any unplanned event" that shuts down or limits operation. The entire country, he said, is susceptible to various forms of disaster. Flooding, for example, could happen to anyone, whether it's the result of a storm surge or a water main break. But many events can be anticipated and recovered from with effective preparation.

What Naugle learned from Katrina was that creating a disaster plan is absolutely essential. "We had a plan," he said. "It wasn't a perfect plan. It didn't anticipate such a major disaster, but we had something to work with." He then outlined a basic plan, the creation of which, he said, "need not be tedious or last several weeks."

Among Naugle's suggestions were:

  • Start Talking: Meet with staff immediately to formulate a plan. Use one of the titles mentioned below as a starting point.
  • Create a Contact Point: Have a contact person or bookstore outside of the geographical area as a place for staff to leave and retrieve information.
  • Delegate: Have staff members responsible for creating and maintaining various components of a comprehensive plan.
  • Discover Resources: Access disaster preparedness information available via your local Chamber of Commerce, ABA, and other sources. Consult the bibliography below.
  • Prepare Your Website: A bookstore's website can be an excellent method of business continuation if a bricks and mortar location is severely affected. However, Naugle cautioned booksellers about using local servers, which could also be affected by a disaster.
  • Back Up Data: Be sure to regularly back up data and store it safely.
  • Obtain Proper Insurance: Meet with insurance agents personally. Do not set up a policy over the phone. Keep photos of store to help validate claim. Plan now for a future insurance claim.
  • Create Media Plan: The media can help disseminate information about your business post disaster.
  • Maintain a Contingency Fund: Whether it's $500, $2,000, or $10,000, have a fund for discontinuation of business.
  • Plan for the worst: But hope for the best.

Redlener asked the audience how many had some kind of basic disaster preparedness plan, which includes three days of water and food. Four of the approximately 40 booksellers in attendance raised their hands. He then explained that the continuum of disaster planning ranges from "absolute fatalism" on one end to "severe paranoia" on the other. However, "somewhere in the middle is the right place to be," he said. "People need to be prudently prepared." The first, most important step, he explained, was mental readiness. Knowing what first few steps to take in a disaster is "as important as having three days of food and water." Redlener said, "You are your first responder."

After describing the government's failure to respond prior to, during, and after Katrina, Redlener noted that everyone needs to take on the responsibility of planning for his or her family and community. "It is my fervent hope," he said, "that people will get involved enough with their community's disaster-preparedness planning that they will demand more from the government."

By way of suggesting that people prepare for the unanticipated, Cooper talked a little about his family's experience in the Gulf. "My in-laws were in New Orleans," he said. "They had a plan for Katrina. They made a huge crawfish etouffee and got a 25-pound ham. That was their plan." Since Cooper's in-laws lived five feet above sea level in an area that never flooded, they assumed they were safe. When the storm blew over a tree and blocked their driveway, they were stuck for days. "No one thought those levees would break," he said, "except for the federal government."

Cooper and Block concluded by pointing out some alarming facts about the country's current level of preparedness. "There are 46 million uninsured people in this country," said Block. "What will happen if there's a flu pandemic? Those who are uninsured will become Typhoid Marys. And our broken, fragile medical system cannot and will not function in a pandemic. No city has prepared for a flu pandemic. No one has taken this seriously enough."

Praising the dedication and courage of the first responders to Hurricane Katrina, Block said, "Folks on the ground were always willing to risk their own safety for people they didn't know. They were heroes. They did a tremendous job, but they didn't get a lot of press." He added that it was also the responsibility of community members to work with first responders before a disaster occurs to learn about how they might be able to help their own families and community. Particularly since the government is in "even less of a position" to respond to a disaster than it was previously, he said. Block urged attendees to get involved with programs like CERT (Community Emergency Response Team), which is available from most local firehouses. "In reality," said Block, "first responders can't do it without you."

Naugle told the audience that thanks to a certain level of preparedness, Pass Christian continues to operate on the web at www.passchristianbooks.com and occasionally in a large tent. "My final comment," he said "is how pleasantly surprised I am with how much the people who are still [in the area] want to read. It's a respite from what's going on there. The role that books and that booksellers play is just critical, even after Katrina. That didn't wash away." --Karen Schechner

The following select bibliography of websites and books for those who want to learn more about disaster preparedness was compiled with the help of Dr. Redlener and Scott Naugle:

Websites:

Bibliography:

  • America the Vulnerable by Stephen Flynn (HarperCollins)
  • Americans at Risk: Why We Are Not Prepared for Megadisasters and What We Need to Do Now by Irwin Redlener, M.D. (August, Knopf)
  • Category 5: The Story of Camille by Judith Howard and Ernest Zebrowski (University of Michigan)
  • Civil Defense Begins at Home by Laura McEnaney (Princeton University)
  • Come Hell or High Water: Hurricane Katrina and The Color of Disaster
    by Michael Eric Dyson (Perseus Books)
  • Disaster: Hurricane Katrina & the Failure of Homeland Security by Robert Block and Christopher Cooper (August, Henry Holt).
  • Facing the Unexpected, edited by Kathleen J. Tierney, et al. (National Academies)
  • Freedom From Fear by Gregory Thomas (Random House Reference)
  • Individual Preparedness and Response to Chemical, Radiological, Nuclear, and Biological Terrorist Attacks, edited by Lynn E. Davis, et al. (Rand Corporation)
  • Risk by David Ropeik and George Gray (Houghton Mifflin)
  • The Great Deluge: Hurricane Katrina, New Orleans, and the Mississippi Gulf Coast by Douglas Brinkley (William Morrow)
  • The Revenge of Gaia: Earth's Climate Crisis and the Fate of Humanity by James Lovelock (August, Basic Books)
  • The Weather Makers: How Man Is Changing the Climate and What It Means for Life on Earth by Tim Flannery (Atlantic Monthly Press)
  • Through the Eye of the Storm by Cholene Espinoza (Chelsea Green)
  • When the Rivers Run Dry: Water -- The Defining Crisis of the Twenty-First Century by Fred Pearce (Beacon Press)
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