world conference on disaster management 2014

World Conference on Disaster Management 2014

Corey MakarSidney FD

The following slides are a compilation of notes taken during the World Conference on Disaster

Management, 2014.

Session titles and speaker names are at the bottom of each slide.

City of Calgary Flood & ResponseBruce Burrell

Speed of thought and action is paramount – “stop thinking like you work for government” (Burrell, 2014, WCDM).

City of Calgary was able to build new roads in 24 hours or less. How? By getting gov’t out of the way.

Allow people to help themselves (no red tape).If city employees can’t come in to work, pay

them anyway! They will likely volunteer, and continuity of finances will help them in the long run.


Allow for (and expect!!) new organizational networks to appear – allow these new networks to function.

Be prepared for these new networks to exist after the disaster.

Be ready for many volunteers. Give them something to do or they will do something themselves.


Take care of your volunteers and citizens.Bring back social support / psych services well

after the disaster. (6 – 12 months). People will experience a euphoric stage immediately after the disaster, then they may become depressed.

Hand out flyers to each home explaining what they need to do - i.e.: water pumping, restore electricity,

Stock resources at community centers – i.e.: support services, water, chairs, information.


Have specific goals – publish them! Calgary had 10 goals

1. Reopen roads to the public2. Restore power outside of downtown core3. Restore power to downtown4. Reopen bus stations5. Reopen bridges over Elbow River6. Reopen bridges over Bow River7. Reopen Light Rail Transit stations


8. Re-establish Calgary.ca9. Complete inspections for re-energization10. De-activate community receptions centers

Notice that almost all of these goals relate to physical or digital infrastructure!! You must get the city working again. Calgary’s downtown core is an economic engine that produces $7million between 9-5pm and $5million after 5pm. What does your city produce??


Be aware that improvisation will be needed – disasters always bring surprises, plans rarely anticipate surprises

There are three kinds of improvisation1. Reproductive – a goal is met where the original

means for doing so are interrupted2. Adaptive – adjustments are made and actions

have moved away from the original plan but the original goal is met (this is a highly important trait for first responders).


3. Creative – prior plans and arrangements give you no guidance and there is almost total surprise

How do you encourage improvisation? Extensive knowledge of response repertoires,

resources, and plansDeep knowledge of basics allows for

improvisationImprovisation is NOT the opposite of planning!

Urban Community Resilience Louise Elstow

There are four types of communities within urban areas

1. Geographic – local neighborhoods, districts, etc.2. Interest – similar faiths, political affiliations,

recreational activities3. Circumstances – socio/political placement,

cultural similarity, congruent experiences, 4. Supporters – can be from any spectrum


Urban areas have inherent strengths

1. People – providing ideas, resources, labor, etc.2. Economic diversity – well positioned to

withstand a disaster, more so than a single economy often seen in rural areas

3. Physical assets – infrastructure that supports economic activity and rebuilding materials


Variety and diversity is important in building resilience

Understand the threads that run through your community based on:

1. Income2. Acquaintances3. Cultural activities

What are your hyper local strengths, weaknesses, issues, and assets?


What is Social Capital? Strong ties between members and networks Positive attitudes regarding self-reliance Trust and cooperation between member and

networks Knowledge of where to go for help High levels of social integration between gov’t

and non gov’t organizations


Social Capitol works by allowing for: Increased access to information A greater sense of meaning gained by individuals

from social interactions Stronger group social norms Aiding reciprocity within groups as well as

between groups Ease of collective action – makes it easier to

accomplish goals that require collaboration• Build your community’s Social Capitol!!

Digital DoomsdayCurtis Levinson

How critical is communication tech? During a disaster it is vital and it is under threat

China is achieving command and control of Western Infrastructure

We live in a multiverse of interconnections, visible and invisible (the Dark Web, Silk Road, The Onion Router)

How do you protect yourself and your organization against what you can’t see?


Continuity and Recovery are closely related to Cyber Security

How can you link C & R with CS for your organization? What can you do to increase CS for your organization?

When upgrading CS, education and security must go hand-in-hand. There is a risk of failure if upgrades are made without awareness as to why or how to implement those upgrades


Speed and effectiveness of recovery is paramount

Can you recover your lost technology? Who can recover it? How fast can they do so? Under what circumstances will that recovery be interrupted?

Intelligence and creativity are the new weapons in cyber warfare

Promote intelligence and allow for creativity in your organization

Ice Storm 2013 in the GTAAlain Normand

Recognize the need to coordinate between cross sector partners

How will each partner deal with unexpected breaking points – there will always be something unexpected!

How much of your plan is dependent on partners? What are those partners trained to do? Do you train together? How often?

What is your dependency on partners or other gov’t services? Are OGS dependent on different entities?

Ice Storm 2013 in the GTAAlain Normand

Identify your structural and functional (staffing) deficiencies

Would your organization or community be able to withstand a minimum of three days without power?

How can you provide power to the greatest amount of people in the least amount of time?

Recognize that digital media is a major platform for social networks

Provide charging stations at community centers!

Extreme Weather EventsMark Abkowitz

weather is local – know the history and what you are protecting

Community / people / economic continuity / businesses / mobility of people and goods

• What kind of weather will assets be exposed to?• Assets should be though of in two ways

1. Possible damage to the asset2. Possible resilience of the asset


What makes assets critical?

1. Volume of activity2. Emergency use3. Cost to replace / repair4. Regional / national importance5. Whether detours are available6. Forecasted demand through study period7. location


What is your asset inventory?

Highways / RailroadsNavigable waterwaysAirports Intermodal freight terminals / Pipelines Transit systemsSupport systems (traffic control centers /

maintenance facilities)Programmed transportation projects


Extreme weather scenario development process

1. Develop criteria to define extreme weather (ice) and what thresholds cause damage (>0.25 in.)

2. Review maintenance records to identify when and where assets suffered significant damage and correlate to weather at the time

3. Apply climate forecasting models to determine portfolio of plausible extreme weather scenarios


Lessons learned:

1. Stakeholder engagement at multiple levels is critical

2. qualitative and quantitative methods will be used throughout inventory assessment and scenario development

3. Use of GIS is essential to provide spatial reference for

Defining critical assetsIdentifying locations of extreme weather

How does your EM program measure up?Jeff Gill

What are the challenges of and Emergency Management program?

1. Volunteer mobilization2. Logistics3. Vulnerable clients4. Emotional toll on volunteers / support staff5. Variety of client need (do you require expert

knowledge?)6. Media intensity (everyone is watching you!)


What closes the gap between what you need to achieve and the challenges before you?

1. Commitment2. Decisiveness3. Empowerment4. initiative


Support your Emergency Response Engine!

Identify the Emergency Response Organization for specific disasters

All stakeholders should be aware of the activation criteria

All stakeholders should be aware of activation process

What are the individual responsibilities?What are the response actions?

RecommendationsCorey Makar

Throughout all the sessions that I visited, there was one overriding theme:Be prepared to work quickly, with new partners, and beyond traditional boundaries. Present day

bureaucracy will stifle your response in a disaster. Be prepared to forego traditional hierarchy and

allow trusted individuals to make decisions on the fly. You cannot anticipate everything.

This, more than any other thing was going to set you up for success during a disaster. The new EM model is built around innovation, adaptability and building resilience.


The World Conference on Disaster Management is an excellent resource for emergency management professionals. There are over 1000 participants, 70+

speakers, 65 sessions which cover a variety of topics including:

Organizational Resilience, Community Resilience, Contingency Planning


Community Preparedness, Risk Assessment, Recovery Planning, Impact Assessment, VOST and SMEM

The next WCDM is scheduled for June 7-10 2015. I highly recommend sending a representative to

participate. http://www.wcdm.org/

http://www.wcdm.org/

world conference on disaster management 2014

Documents

city employees

community centers

social capital

calgary had10 goals1

communitys social capitol

new roads

afterthe disaster

digital infrastructure