1. The Impact of Hurricane Rita on an Academic Institution: Lessons Learned

2. Hurricane Rita Case Study Analysis  Dominic Beggan Introduction of the Case  Larry Osborne Damage Caused  Cliff Woodruff Lessons Learned  Emerging Technologies and Trends

3. Larry Osborne Damage Assessments  Initial Damage  Prioritizing Damage Assessments  Outreach efforts to the community, faculty, staff and students  Early Decisions

4. Initial Damage  Damage to 80+% of buildings  Loss of 20 major roofs  870 Dorm rooms with water infiltration, also classrooms  8 th Floor of Library devastated  Trees uprooted throughout campus  No power for 8 days  Initial band-aid 23m  University closed 25 Days

5. Prioritizing Damage Assessments  4 Police remained throughout began initial assessments  President returned Sunday to coordinate repair and recovery effort  Command post and damage assessment setup  By Monday afternoon contractors, roof workers and disaster recovery consultant engaged (400)  Prioritize repairs, emphasize dorms, library, academic facilities, Montagne Center

6. Outreach Efforts to the Community, Faculty, Staff and Students  Kept community informed via Blog on alternate web site  Created pictorial history (“Before & After”)  Kept local news sources informed

7. Early Decisions  Pay Faculty, Staff, Students for Duration  Refund dorm rent, meal plan costs  Full tuition refunds for withdrawal due to hurricane impact  Develop alternate academic calendar scenarios – Goal to finish the Fall semester

21. Cliff Woodruff Lessons Learned  General Lessons  Technology Specific Lessons

22. General Lessons  Satellite phones no land/cellular lines  Establish command post facility with adequate cooking, washing and sleeping facilities  Establish a list of necessary local contractors (hvac, roofing, telecommunications)  Top off fuel supplies, purchase/rent additional generators  Evacuation site for students  Encourage staff/faculty and students to remove all valuables (Empty Refrigerators)

23. General Lessons  Identify a triage list of necessary staff (Recovery Teams to return in waves)  Marshal Law: access cards  Replication and distribution of data sets  Pictorial account of the disaster

24. Technology Specific Lessons  Backup mirror/dark Internet service on sister campus  Cover all computers  Ceiling tile problems  Avoid automatic activation of generators  Establish alternative communications systems (conference bridges, standby hotline, off campus e-mails)

25. Emergency Response Emerging Technologies and Trends  Information and Communication Technology (ICT)  Design considerations for Human- Computer Interaction  Decision Support Systems (DSS)  Developing Online Forums  Open Source Emergency Management Systems

26. Information and Communication Technology (ICT)  ICT for emergency use is being integrated the UN and will be used when completed for part of a worldwide effort to respond to disasters including hurricanes and tsunamis.  Examples of these applications can be viewed at www.unicttaskforce.org and www.ictliteracy.info

27. Design considerations for Human- Computer interaction  More effective and efficient interaction needs to be addressed in designing Computer/human interaction with regard to emergency management systems  User requirements should drive the technology as a result of lessons learned

28. Decision Support Systems (DSS)  DSS could be applied to emergency management  To integrate communication and visualization aids  To build a collaborative understanding of what is happening  To create shared mental models among the management team

29. Developing More Effective Online Forums  Such forums tremendously enhance communication efforts  Created a means for sharing and learning in a more rapid manner  These forums allow those who are far from the disaster to become involved  Citizen generated information is usually the only information immediately available to the public immediately after a disaster

30. Open Source Emergency Management Systems  Such systems are being developed that are low-cost to deploy, and adaptable.  SAHANA has already been used in the 2005 earthquake in Pakistan and the 2006 mudslides in Philippines and the 2006 earthquake in Indonesia.  These systems apply a synchronization framework that allows individuals to go to the field with a snapshot of existing data and later synchronize with the central SAHANA server when Internet connectivity is restored. The data is exported in XML format and stored on a USB removable memory device allowing for manual transmission at locations were there is no connectivity