Robert Schwarzwalder Assistant University Librarian University of Hawai‘i at Manoa 25 June 2007 Preparing for the Next Disaster: Learning the Lessons from the 2004 Manoa Flood

Event History At 8PM on 10/04 the campus was hit by a flash flood 41 buildings on campus were damaged The contents of the library’s ground floor were destroyed

Event History The older sections of Hamilton were not reopened to the public until 3/28/05 Reconstruction of the ground floor has not yet broken ground

What Did We Do Right? We had collection and IT disaster plans and very able to mobilize quickly in these two areas. We had a good communications tree and were able to get key personnel on site within 3 hours of the event. We created ad hoc groups to respond to the disaster, recasting the library administration in a disaster-response mode.

Case Study: Library Information Technology PLAN Data security will be insured by multiple tape backups Rely upon Central ITS for backup server room Emergency funding for replacements Individuals instructed to back-up hard drives REALITY Two sets of backups were destroyed; copy three survived ITS was also hit hard, space provided was poor FEMA funding was very slow in coming … like we really expected that to happen

What Did We Do Wrong? We under-estimated the human toll of the event. We did not consider the competition for resources after a major campus disaster. We were slow to develop a plan for re- establishing library services. We have not sufficiently planned for the next disaster.

Are We Better Prepared? Yes: Major re-engineering of library IT disaster plan provides far greater disaster coverage Yes: Library Preservation pre-certification plan for recovery services will allow faster response Yes: Plans for new server room and ground floor mitigate the impact of future floods

Case Study: Library Information Technology Data Backups: Using SMS, individuals are provided with a virtual drive that is backed-up to tape Data Security: Back-up copies of data are maintained at an off-site commercial data storage facility Server Room: Relocated to the second floor, away from any exterior walls; exterior electrical panel to allow generator hook-up to power all aspects of server room

Case Study: Building Design Flood Mitigation: A flood wall and berm are being added to mitigate future flood damage. Emergency Egress: Egress points are being added and the primary emergency egress point is being moved to the front entrance of the Library. Design for Damage Mitigation: The building chillers and transformers are being relocated to a new utility building; the server room is being moved to the second floor.

Are We Better Prepared? … Really??? No: The major innovations in disaster preparation are all within one administrative group of the Library! No: Of the administrative personnel responsible during the recovery, all will have left service as of July 6, 2007! No: We have not revised our emergency response manual or our evacuation procedure since the flood!

The Ideal and the Real Nothing can fully prepare you for the trauma of a major disaster. Expect emotional fall-out. Consider the relative priority of the library in a campus, city, or state-wide disaster.

Are You Prepared? Do you have a disaster plan? Do you update it on a regular basis? Do you have agreements in place for disaster recovery? Are the vital data for your Library backed up? … offsite? Do you have alternative locations to establish temporary operations (esp., IT and Fiscal)?