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Dawn Routledge RM Forum State Records Authority, 19 March 2008

Learning lessons the hard way: Hurricane Ivan hits the Cayman Islands. Dawn Routledge RM Forum State Records Authority, 19 March 2008. Cayman Islands: facts. 98% literacy rate Major industries: financial services, tourism No direct taxation. Hurricane Ivan hits Cayman.

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Dawn Routledge RM Forum State Records Authority, 19 March 2008

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  1. Learning lessons the hard way: Hurricane Ivan hits the Cayman Islands Dawn Routledge RM Forum State Records Authority, 19 March 2008

  2. Cayman Islands: facts • 98% literacy rate • Major industries: financial services, tourism • No direct taxation

  3. Hurricane Ivan hits Cayman

  4. Recordkeeping environment Physical records management Mounting piles of paper in offices and warehouses Government Records Centre Civil servants using email to do business. Printing and filing rules in place Electronic business systems rely on paper inputs and outputs Fledgling RM program led by CINA to address breakdown of records systems

  5. Disaster preparedness • National infrastructure • Focused on hurricanes • Annual vital records plans for agencies to complete and send to National Archive • Little risk analysis in plans • 2004 hurricane season: only 24 of 75 agencies had completed vital records plans

  6. Hurricane Ivan

  7. The aftermath… 83% of homes damaged 30% of residents uninsured US$3.4 billion cost to economy

  8. Records Centre flooded: 1m of water through the ground floor 50% of vital records damaged Included most of personnel records of Government Damage to Government records…

  9. First 48 hours… Limited access to refrigeration No power on site Commence clean up…

  10. Action: 72 hours Contacted disaster recovery specialists in Canada Calls for help coming in from affected Government agencies Re-boxing and freezing of wet records underway

  11. Long term recovery Paid for by insurance National Archive co-ordinated document disaster recovery for Government Vacuum freeze drying process Cleaning of dried records 4000 boxes, about 1 year recovery

  12. Dehumidifier to lower levels in records exposed to high humidity Even offices and storage areas that escaped flooding were exposed to higher risk of mould Records at risk

  13. Lessons learnt: before

  14. Gather information to: Aid recovery Provide evidence of actions taken Enable post-recovery analysis - Log actions taken - Take photos - Carry out damage surveys (if possible) Lessons learnt: during

  15. Lessons learnt: after • Importance of supporting staff and maintaining morale • Look after logistics of running a disaster recovery team – need food and water! • Identify PR opportunities • Beware of promising too much. Contingency in timeframes! • Be strategic – use opportunities to improve program

  16. Conclusion • Records are still important, even after a major disaster • Luck minimised records impact of Hurricane Ivan – records of many Government agencies untouched, just! • Recovery effort is worth it. Insurance prevented much worse impact. Good RM program makes it cheaper • Opportunity to improve: new environment with enthusiasm for change

  17. Dawn Routledge NSW Fire Brigades Information Management Unit dawn.routledge@fire.nsw.gov.au Ph: 9265 2867 Mob: 0407 108 696

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