Start planning now for next hurricane season
By WYNETA MILLER
Hurricane Katrina woke up everyone to the fact that emergency preparedness must become a way of life. In this area, we focus primarily on hurricane preparedness, but the disaster du jour could just as easily be floods, fires, tornadoes, earthquakes, terrorist attacks and chemical spills.
Plans are critical to businesses and individuals for safety and survival. Hurricane season starts June 1.
Col. Joe Spraggins, director of the Harrison County Emergency Management Agency, dispelled rumors of an early start (before June 1) to the hurricane season.
“We don’t have any data supporting earlier arrival of hurricanes this year,” he said. “But this is the time, right now, to prepare ourselves, businesses and families, with a plan to move forward and not have to wait 24-48 hours after the fact to decide that we need to do something.
“Be self-reliant, be prepared to take care of yourself first and whatever we have left is nice. We can replace almost anything monetarily, but the key is self-reliance,” Spraggins said.
“Businesses need to have a plan on how and when they can operate, when are they going to shut down their operations. How are they going to operate after the fact, if a hurricane comes into the Gulf? They need to make sure their employees have an evacuation plan. If a business has any type of equipment in harm’s way or could cause harm, they need a plan to move it to a safe area.”
Added Spraggins: “We are going to do everything in our power to take care of everyone and make sure their businesses are not closed longer than necessary.”
He said that if a hurricane enters the Gulf of Mexico and the Coast is inside the projected path, his agency will look at voluntary evacuations of volunteers, relief workers and anyone in FEMA trailers.
“Understand that by law, those trailers are owned by the federal government,” he said. “Any possessions that people have in them needs to be packed down and put in their vehicles when they evacuate in case the trailers are destroyed. That way, they can be assured they will come back with something. Those FEMA trailers are not built to withstand anything.”
Is your business prepared? Does your plan need to be tweaked? Did Katrina open up areas of questions you never thought of before?
Make your disaster preparedness plan a dynamic document, one that’s used — not once — but all the time. Add to it when new information presents itself.
If you are new to this type of planning, the following resources are available. Network with other people in the business community. Fight for input and feedback.
Computer back-up
Human and physical resources are the first to be considered, but how many times have we heard that businesses lost all their records? What would you do? How about backing up computer data frequently throughout the day and keep a backup tape off site? How are you going to handle the loss of communications?
Do your employees and their families have their own emergency preparedness plans? If not, educate them for their own protection and your future business continuity. Go to www.redcross.org/pubs/dspubs/genprep.html for their “Family Disaster Preparedness” plan. If they are not evacuating, do they have a shelter or shelter in place plan? What supplies will they need to have on hand to sustain them? Do they have disabled folks in their families? What needs do they have?
Keesler Air Force Base in Biloxi has had a hurricane preparedness awareness and training program for decades and uses it to train and refresh its people annually.
“Our people and their families are priority one,” said Brig. Gen. Paul Capasso, 81st Training Wing commander. “We will ensure that our personnel have safe evacuation and sheltering options. Our commitment to humanitarian support for the Gulf Coast community will continue should we face another storm like Katrina this next season.”
Keesler’s plan always includes evacuating its 4,000-member student population who doesn’t own vehicles. Right now, Keesler is re-verifying that on-base shelters are still suitable for use. The on-base shelters suffered some roof damage due to high winds.
Keesler has ongoing risk management plans incorporating creative, but practical ways to minimize, eliminate or divert future hurricane and flood damage, Currently, officials are upgrading generators to minimize utility loss, using automatic switching for generator power and installing new natural gas system pressure regulators that prevent debris blockages in ventilation.
“The casino industry has been ready for years, and the plans used prior to Katrina worked well in securing facilities plus releasing and helping employees. Now, they are in process of updating those hurricane plans with added knowledge,” said Duncan McKenzie, regional vice president of Isle of Capri Casinos Inc., and who also serves as chairman of the Mississippi Gulf Coast Chamber of Commerce and chairman of the Small Business Committee on the Governor’s Commission for Recovery, Rebuilding and Renewal.
McKenzie said the Small Business Committee of the Governor’s Commission for Recovery, Rebuilding and Renewal is using the “Emergency Management Guide for Business and Industry,” as well as some practical items from “Preparing Your Business for the Unthinkable” following a model from the North Carolina Emergency Management Agency.
“Detroit Regional Chamber donated a mobile van to Harrison County Chamber fitted with computers, phone systems and meeting spaces,” he said. “It will be used throughout the coast helping businesses prepare for this and future hurricane seasons. It’s currently on loan to Hancock County. The Chambers will advertise and work with networking those meetings throughout the Coast.”
Mississippi Gulf Coast Chamber of Commerce can be reached at (228) 604-0014.