THE STATE OF FLORIDA, as do most states, has an Emergency Preparedness Guide.1 The state even will help individuals make personal, location-specific plans.2.
As an enterprise risk management practitioner, I’d give Florida’s planning tools a B+.
Why not an A?
- Because there is no mitigation effort in the plan.
The plan is not even a 100% complete disaster recovery plan.
For all that, review the plan as a general check list. No one ever thinks of everything.
A RISK MANAGEMENT PLAN ALWAYS includes RISK AVOIDANCE AND MITIGATION
Before we moved into our current house, I confirmed the structure was not in a flood zone. It’s easy enough to find out. Start with the Federal Emergency Management Agency’s (FEMA) Is Your Property In A Flood Zone? Find Out In 2 Minutes Or Less! site.3 The site includes a video for the reading impaired.
The site also links to the FEMA Flood Map Service Center. Plug in the building’s address, a place, or longitude/latitude coordinates and – almost magically, the information will appear.
However, just because a structure is not in a FEMA identified flood zone, heavy rains can cause street flooding, and street flooding can creep up to the doors, so laying a supply of sand bags or other barriers is wise. Some cities offer residents free sand bags; just come early.
Insurance companies give discounts for wind mitigation in hurricane-prone areas. Wind mitigation includes making sure the roof won’t blow off (as many did when Hurricane Andrew hit south Florida) and that glass windows and doors are protected from flying debris.
WISE land owners will make certain all trees are trimmed and all loose objects are secured, thereby reducing the risk of flying debris.
Florida’s Emergency Preparedness Guide briefly mentions cell (mobile) phones. It recommends having extra charged batteries. Most folks do not have spare cell phone batteries and some “smart” phones make battery exchange difficult. Better: get a car charger. (While out and about, get a two to five-gallon jerry can (spare can for fuel), top off the vehicle’s gas tank and fill the jerrycan. Do NOT wait until the last minute to buy a fuel container – like bottled water, the closer the event, the scarcer the containers.)
PHOTOGRAPH EVERYTHING inside and outside the structure. Insurance companies want to know that the damaged property was owned and OK before the event. Store the images where they are safe from the event – preferably in at least TWO different locations. (Send yourself emails with the photos as attachments.)
WHAT’S MISSING
There is no mention of post-event recovery. You can’t have “disaster recovery” without “recovery” options.
I failed to see any suggestions re
- What to do to mitigate additional damage (e.g., cover broken windows with something to prevent rain water entering the building)
- Contact restoration organizations
- What to check to assure the restoration organization is legitimate
- Who to contact if you believe you have been scammed
It is a good idea to have a list of qualified, licensed and insured, contractors’ contact information at hand. While “money talks” and helps set contractor response priorities, the first to call for help often is the first to receive help.
BOTTOM LINE
The “bottom line” for Florida’s Emergency Preparedness Guide is that it’s a good starting point but a guide that needed an enterprise risk management practitioner’s involvement. It’s “better than nothing,” but it could have been a lot more beneficial had it had input from people who think avoidance and mitigation in addition to disaster recovery.
Sources
1. http://tinyurl.com/y7ffcvmt
2. http://tinyurl.com/ybsreg5u
3. https://retipster.com/floodzone/
PLAGIARISM is the act of appropriating the literary composition of another, or parts or passages of his writings, or the ideas or language of the same, and passing them off as the product of one’s own mind.
No comments:
Post a Comment