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Developing a Disaster Plan – Assessing Weakness, Discussing Options, Planning Strategy

Learn essential strategies for disaster planning, risk analysis, and emergency preparedness to ensure continuity of critical services and rapid recovery in case of emergencies. Case studies and practical steps for creating effective disaster plans.

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Developing a Disaster Plan – Assessing Weakness, Discussing Options, Planning Strategy

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  1. Developing a Disaster Plan – Assessing Weakness, Discussing Options, Planning Strategy Ann Oliva, National HMIS TA Team Jonathan Padgett, Via Link

  2. Overview • Learning Objectives • Fundamentals of Disaster Planning and the Washington, DC Model • HMIS Disaster Planning Pre- and Post-Katrina September 18-19, 2006 - Denver, Colorado Sponsored by the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development

  3. Learning Objectives • To provide case studies on peer communities' work to date preparing for disasters. • To transfer knowledge of beginning steps to creating a disaster strategy. • To instruct participants on the most basic elements of formal disaster planning. September 18-19, 2006 - Denver, Colorado Sponsored by the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development

  4. Fundamentals of Disaster Planning and the Washington, DC Model Ann Oliva National HMIS TA Team and Human Services Consultant

  5. Why Emergency Preparedness and Business Continuity Planning? • To protect the health and safety of those being served and of the people who serve them. • Because CoCs impact the lives of many on a daily basis. • To be able to access and use the information needed to understand resources, locate people and provide services in the event of an emergency. • To promote more rapid recovery in the event of a disaster. September 18-19, 2006 - Denver, Colorado Sponsored by the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development

  6. Emergency Preparedness Plans for CoC or HMIS – Who has them? Who needs them? • Vendors that house data • Local government agencies • Lead agencies for CoC and HMIS • Providers that use HMIS and serve persons who are homeless Why are we discussing CoC, program and HMIS emergency planning during an HMIS conference? If you don’t have all critical program operations addressed in your plan, having only your HMIS data won’t be much help. September 18-19, 2006 - Denver, Colorado Sponsored by the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development

  7. Human Service Providers – Strengths and Weaknesses • Lesson Learned from Katrina and September 11: • Homeless service providers work together to protect their clients and staff in the event of an emergency – this is their strength. • Homeless service providers generally do not have systems in place to be able to recover quickly or to operate in the event of long term damage to infrastructure. September 18-19, 2006 - Denver, Colorado Sponsored by the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development

  8. Emergency Preparedness Planning – Risk Analysis is Key • Need to understand your risks in order to prepare for them. • Highest level of risk = Catastrophic Failures • Heavy impact on persons served or staff, or • Heavy impact on program operations, or • Major loss of funding or staff. • Other risks may be of low or medium impact. • A comprehensive strategy will ensure that plans for all levels of risk are integrated and coordinated. September 18-19, 2006 - Denver, Colorado Sponsored by the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development

  9. Risks Are Identified – What Should a Plan for Disasters Include? • An overall CoC disaster plan can include HMIS as a system for managing information flow. • Discussions with local Emergency Planning Officials to coordinate resources for special needs populations and transportation • Overall CoC Plan should include: • Clear chain of command • Communications infrastructure and strategy (including HMIS) • Business continuity planning at lead agency • Provider level plans • Training on the plan September 18-19, 2006 - Denver, Colorado Sponsored by the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development

  10. Trying to Plan for Everything… • You cannot plan for every specific scenario and contingency that may happen. • You CAN put into place a strong infrastructure and chain of command that is flexible enough to make critical decisions when needed. September 18-19, 2006 - Denver, Colorado Sponsored by the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development

  11. What We are Doing in the District of Columbia • Required to develop a plan under the Community Partnership’s contract with the District Government • Initial plan includes: • Literature review of risk assessments conducted for Washington, DC area in addition to lead agency risk assessment; • Focus group of homeless service providers to assess current level of readiness and generate ideas; • Survey of providers to determine their internal communications structure, key staff, chain of command and critical backup procedures; • Lead agency business continuity planning – this is where the money comes from! September 18-19, 2006 - Denver, Colorado Sponsored by the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development

  12. Business Continuity: Identification of Critical Documents • Financial, Administrative and Program staff each defined documents/files that they would need to access to continue operations in the case of an emergency. • Now going through the process of: • Ensuring all critical data needed at client level is in HMIS; • Adding older documents to the backup, and • Changing internal practices to include these documents in the backup process as they are generated. September 18-19, 2006 - Denver, Colorado Sponsored by the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development

  13. Business Continuity Planning • In 2006, implemented a plan to back up electronic documents to a secure site accessible via the internet through authentication of executive staff. That site includes or will include: • Staff and provider contact information; • Agency working folders for each staff member; • Microsoft exchange server which includes additional contacts and email; • Financial management, critical banking and LOCCS draw files; • Equipment inventory database; • Copies of agency specific software; • Operations manuals. September 18-19, 2006 - Denver, Colorado Sponsored by the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development

  14. Business Continuity Planning • Hard copy files are scanned in to a document server and added to the electronic backup: • Founding organizational documents • Insurance • Signed contracts (vendor, provider, funding source) • Leases for rent subsidy units • SHP/S+C technical submissions • HMIS is backed up through a contract with the vendor. This has been confirmed through a site visit to the vendor’s offices. September 18-19, 2006 - Denver, Colorado Sponsored by the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development

  15. Business Continuity Planning • HMIS and other data are not valuable unless you can access them: • Backup equipment stored off site • Computers and monitors • Networking equipment • Phones (wall/cell) • Other office equipment and basic supplies • Do you have a way to access your tape backups if you need to use them? • Relationships with geographically diverse community agencies to ensure access September 18-19, 2006 - Denver, Colorado Sponsored by the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development

  16. Program Level Planning • Plan without panic: • What is appropriate to plan for at the provider level? You should know this from your risk analysis. • Business continuity? • Shelter-in-place? • Evacuation? • Solicit input when developing the plan • How will providers communicate about who is with them and who needs to be located? • How will they access HMIS? • What information will be entered into HMIS in an emergency? • How will the resource database be used? September 18-19, 2006 - Denver, Colorado Sponsored by the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development

  17. Advocacy with Local Government Resources • Local government resources should be made available to special needs populations – make them aware of what you are doing and what resources you may need from them. • Remember, you bring resources to the table as well: • HMIS is a powerful and already implemented resource and service tracking database, don’t reinvent the wheel or make already-stretched providers learn a new system during a crisis. • Homeless service providers know how to ensure the needs of special populations are addressed and are also experts in mass shelter. Share this knowledge! September 18-19, 2006 - Denver, Colorado Sponsored by the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development

  18. Coordination with a “Sister City” • The Community Partnership (D.C.) and the Community Shelter Board (Columbus, OH) are forming a “sister city” arrangement that includes: • Access to backup systems in case on-site staff is unavailable; • Communications support; • Technology and data recovery support; • Short-term operations support • Staff/job function sharing in the case of a disaster; • Backup operations and administrative offices if needed. • Choose an organization that is geographically diverse but similar in operational structure. The Partnership was originally designed after the CSB model, so their structure is similar. September 18-19, 2006 - Denver, Colorado Sponsored by the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development

  19. Final Thoughts • Understand your potential risks and prioritize them. Disasters are not limited to natural occurrences or terrorism…think about all things that may adversely impact your ability to operate or serve clients. • Resources for planning and execution can be limited. There are foundations/corporations out there willing to help. • Engage your local government’s experts, if possible, and coordinate your plan. • Plan for enough time to carry out a thorough process and learn from others that are already doing it! September 18-19, 2006 - Denver, Colorado Sponsored by the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development

  20. HMIS Disaster Planning Pre- and Post-Katrina Jonathan PadgettInformation Systems & Technology DirectorVIA LINK New Orleans

  21. Developing a Disaster Plan “History is a race between education and catastrophe.”  —H.G. Wells September 18-19, 2006 - Denver, Colorado Sponsored by the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development

  22. VIA LINK pre-Katrina • Call Center: Customer Interaction Call System • HMIS: One of Twelve Expert Systems in the US • Community Resource Database: Directly Funded September 18-19, 2006 - Denver, Colorado Sponsored by the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development

  23. Developing a Disaster Plan Spring 2005 Development of VIA LINK’s Disaster and Emergency Preparedness Plan September 18-19, 2006 - Denver, Colorado Sponsored by the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development

  24. Developing a Disaster Plan April 2005 “Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) for Forwarding of Call Center Calls to Louisiana Alliance of Information and Referral Services (LAAIRS)/2-1-1 Agencies in an Emergency” September 18-19, 2006 - Denver, Colorado Sponsored by the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development

  25. Disaster Plan Pre-Katrina • Lines of Communication • Specific steps to follow before event • Backup and Network Configuration • Evacuation Agreement September 18-19, 2006 - Denver, Colorado Sponsored by the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development

  26. Our Pre-Katrina Emergency MOU • Calls Forwarded to Hosting Agency • Host agrees to take evacuating staff • No time limit specified September 18-19, 2006 - Denver, Colorado Sponsored by the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development

  27. Problem: Staff Evacuation • No long term housing planned or provided • Monroe housing market overwhelmed • Rental price-gouging rampant September 18-19, 2006 - Denver, Colorado Sponsored by the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development

  28. “Just because something doesn't do what you planned it to do doesn't mean it's useless.” —Thomas A. Edison September 18-19, 2006 - Denver, Colorado Sponsored by the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development

  29. Developing a Disaster Plan • October 8, 2005 • VIA LINK’s (Long) Return to New Orleans September 18-19, 2006 - Denver, Colorado Sponsored by the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development

  30. Developing a Disaster Plan • All Systems Go? • One VIA LINK office lost but server intact • Administrative offices & call center functional • Problems? September 18-19, 2006 - Denver, Colorado Sponsored by the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development

  31. Lesson: When you shut down your call center before an evacuation, be sure that your server or servers aren’t set to reboot as soon as the power returns! September 18-19, 2006 - Denver, Colorado Sponsored by the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development

  32. Developing a Disaster Plan • Post-Disaster Tasks • Hardware/Software Tests • Inventory/Damage Assessment • New Database of Community Resources September 18-19, 2006 - Denver, Colorado Sponsored by the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development

  33. Resource Database: Starting from Zero! September 18-19, 2006 - Denver, Colorado Sponsored by the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development

  34. November 15th, 2005 Belated Homecoming: Sent away AGAIN and staff issues September 18-19, 2006 - Denver, Colorado Sponsored by the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development

  35. Developing a Disaster Plan • Sources of Help in Reactivating our Agency in the Months after Katrina: • Our Neighboring 2-1-1 Agencies • HUD • The United Way of GNO • Louisiana Family Recovery Corps • United Way of America 2-1-1 Disaster Coordinator, Karen Hyatt September 18-19, 2006 - Denver, Colorado Sponsored by the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development

  36. Developing a Disaster Plan • Early 2006: • Agency Restructured September 18-19, 2006 - Denver, Colorado Sponsored by the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development

  37. Developing a Disaster Plan • Mistakes Made and Lessons Learned September 18-19, 2006 - Denver, Colorado Sponsored by the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development

  38. VIA LINK Disaster Plan and MOU: Not Sufficiently Detailed • Backup Plans • Chain of Command • Housing for Staff • Emergency Fund-raising September 18-19, 2006 - Denver, Colorado Sponsored by the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development

  39. Emergency Resource Update Procedures Needed • All local unverified resources should be inactivated ASAP • Lines of communication and update procedures needed for agencies to contact us with new contact information • Disaster-related resources need to be speedily added September 18-19, 2006 - Denver, Colorado Sponsored by the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development

  40. Redundant, Portable Data Backup • Remote Backup • USB Portable Hard Drives September 18-19, 2006 - Denver, Colorado Sponsored by the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development

  41. Developing a Disaster Plan • Consolidated, Statewide HMIS and • 2-1-1 Phone System • Resource Database • Client Database • Emergency Procedures September 18-19, 2006 - Denver, Colorado Sponsored by the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development

  42. Developing a Disaster Plan “If you have made mistakes, even serious ones, there is always another chance for you. What we call failure is not the falling down but the staying down.” —Mary Pickford September 18-19, 2006 - Denver, Colorado Sponsored by the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development

  43. Resources on Disaster Planning • NPower (Resource for Non Profits): http://www.npower.org/resources/guides/npowers+nonprofit+guide+to+business+continuity+and+disaster+recovery.pdf • Virtual Library of Links to Emergency Planning Resources (links to Gov’t Agencies and Red Cross): http://www.ready.gov/business/other/library.html • UMass (Homeless-specific resources): http://www.mccormack.umb.edu/csp/prepare.jsp • National Capital Region (good example of regional collaboration): http://www.nonprofitroundtable.org/issues___initiatives/163.cfm • New York (good example): http://www.npccny.org/info/disaster_plan.htm September 18-19, 2006 - Denver, Colorado Sponsored by the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development

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