Shake, Rattle and Roll 2011 Earthquake Recovery Exercise
Shake, Rattle and Roll2011 Earthquake Recovery Exercise
Situation Manual
Draft 1.2
Thursday September 22, 2011
1:30 to 4:30 pm
Legion Wing
Veterans’ Memorial Hall
1745 Mission Drive, Solvang
Draft 1.1: August 1, 2011 Page 2 of 10
Shake, Rattle and Roll 2011 Earthquake Recovery Exercise
Purpose
This exercise provides participants an opportunity to evaluate current response concepts, plans and capabilities in the event of a major earthquake in Santa Barbara County that includes disruption of utilities and transportation. The exercise will focus on VOAD members’ resources in critical decision making, including assets necessary to keep critical infrastructure, personnel, and business continuity following a major earthquake.
Scope
This exercise emphasizes the role of each VOAD member in response to the potential consequences of a natural disaster. Processes and decision-making are more important than minute details.
Exercise Objectives
Exercise objectives are focused on improving understanding of a response concept, identifying opportunities or problems, and/or achieving a change in attitude. The exercise will focus on the following objectives:
1. Communication. Assess the adequacy of communication between VOAD members and the VOAD Liaison within the County EOC.
2. Business Continuity. To identify shortfalls in resources, limits in capabilities, and conflicts in planning. Exercise the decision making process and identify areas needing refinements.
3. Resource Coordination. Determine strengths and areas for improvement in coordination and integration of recovery resources. Identify critical issues and potential solutions. Resources to include:
a. Spontaneous Volunteers
b. Access and Functional Needs
c. In-kind donation
Exercise Structure
This will be a facilitated Table Top Exercise. Players will respond to the following:
· Module 1 - Initial Impact Review
· Module 2 - Response Priorities (after 17 hours)
· Module 3 - Recovery and Restoration (after 6 days)
Each Module begins with a briefing or update. Following each briefing update the players will have an opportunity to review the module and questions. A spokesperson from each group should be designated to present a synopsis of the group’s discussion at the end of each module.
At the end of each module the exercise facilitators will moderate a discussion among players to highlight key elements of each module.
Exercise Guidelines
· This is an open, low-stress, no-fault environment. Varying viewpoints, even disagreements, are expected.
· Respond based on your knowledge of current plans and capabilities (i.e., you may use only existing assets) and insights derived from training.
· Decisions are not precedent setting and may not reflect your corporation’s final position on a given issue. This is an opportunity to discuss and present multiple options and possible solutions.
· Issue identification is not as valuable as suggestions and recommended actions that could improve response and preparedness efforts. Problem-solving efforts should be the focus.
Assumptions and Artificialities
In any exercise a number of assumptions and artificialities may be necessary to complete play in the time allotted. During this exercise, the following apply:
· The scenario is plausible and events occur as they are presented.
· There is no “hidden agenda”, nor any trick questions.
· All players receive information at the same time.
MODULE 1: INITIAL IMPACT – XX minutes
Wednesday, September 7, 2011 at 4:30 p.m.
At 4:30 p.m. a 6.7 magnitude earthquake struck Southern Santa Barbara County causing widespread damages. Communications have been disrupted, most utilities are out and you have most of your staff still working.
You know that there has been signification damage in the South Santa Barbara area, but are unsure of what is happening in the northern part of Santa Barbara. Dependant on where you are located, will you need to evacuate your business? According to your existing plans:
Questions:
· List your priorities
· How are your employees accounted for
· What are your communication alternatives
MODULE 2: RESPONSE PRIORITIES –
XX minutes to review
Thursday September 8, 2011 – 9:30 a.m.
It has been 17 hours since the magnitude 6.7 earthquake struck. Some fires from last night continue to burn in and around your place of business. The injured are still being triaged and evaluated in many areas. Fire responders remain overwhelmed and continue to prioritize calls. The few local hospitals and emergency care locations are on lockdown. Alternative care facilities are not yet operational.
Communication is still an issue and you are receiving very little information. However, you did find out that you may have other facilities that have been evacuated due to structure integrity.
Thursday July 21, 2011 – 10:30 a.m. – The Damage Becomes Clearer
Hwy 101, the major highway is damaged throughout most of its length. Multiple areas are seriously buckled and impassable including some areas where the road has deflected by several feet and left 6-inch cracks running diagonally across the surface of the roadway. Full evaluation of all roadways throughout the county is still ongoing.
In areas closer to the coast landslides have occurred, blocking roadways and damaging homes. The full extent of the damage has not been assessed.
Thursday July 21, 2011 – 10:30 a.m. – Water Problems in Area
Water pressure throughout the surrounding area is reportedly reduced to a trickle due to multiple broken water mains. Numerous breaks in a sewer lines are dumping untreated sewage into parts of the downtown area and it is feared that untreated sewage will reach the ocean. Many residents are reporting muddy water from their taps and in some cases dry pipes. Water supply is some areas are non-existent at this time.
Thursday July 21, 2011 – 11:45 a.m. – Additional Damage Report
Major structural damage is reported to some homes in the city. It seems that homes and businesses are equally affected. Law enforcement has been asked to cordon off wide areas within their jurisdictions to protect property but sufficient resources are not available to fulfill these requests. Many of your staff live in those areas and cannot get home and it could be several days before a full evaluation of those areas can be done.
Law Enforcement has concerns about the ability to protect property and about the possibility of looting in the area. With power being out in many areas and call prioritization being in effect, citizens may be on their own to protect their property. This could also create additional challenges for law enforcement.
Thursday July 21, 2011 – 11:45 a.m. – Human Cost
Hundreds of people have been treated for injuries. Among your staff there are minor cuts and scrapes, but there are no ambulances or transport and injuries are still being treated by volunteers. You have received information that the hospitals and health care center are flooded with patients. They are currently searching for beds for everyone and are requesting help from the surrounding communities. Ambulances continue to operate and more have been requested.
Local emergency workers continue to work with limited staff concentrating on heaviest damages; your employees are beginning to get agitated and are fearful and some have not heard from their families.
Thousands of people are searching the streets and rubble for missing loved ones.
Thursday July 21, 2011 – 12:00 p.m. – The Media
News crews from nearby stations have arrived at your location. They are setting up in areas where they can find the most damage and very little action. They’re sending live pictures by satellite to their national media partners. They’re in the process of finding victims, your employees, to interview.
Many facts are being presented by the media on in-kinds donations and your corporation’s handling of the situation.
Thursday July 21, 2011 – 12:35 p.m. – Aftershocks!
As early afternoon begins, two aftershocks hit the surrounding areas. The first is relatively mild and causes no additional damage but badly scares everyone.
The second, about a half hour later, is more serious. It is measured as a magnitude 5.5. Some of the seriously damaged buildings near your building have collapsed completely, but because most had been evacuated earlier, these collapses cause minimal injuries. Since the gas and electricity is still off in your area, no new fires have started.
Thursday July 21, 2011 – 3:00 p.m. – What happens at Twilight
You need to think about what you are going to do with the employees that cannot get home. Sunset is at 6:35 p.m. tonight and you only 3 ½ hours to deal with this situation.
You also need to start thinking about how to start preparing for the influx of donations and resources, while determining the process for continuity.
Key Issues
· The apparent extent of damage
· Fire and law responders stretched thin
· Unable to contact corporate headquarters
· Water is contaminated
· All staff is unable to leave and are unsure of their home damage or status of family members
· Night is falling and you still have staff in the staging area
Facilitated Questions – XX Minutes
1. Based on your response plans, who is responsible for notification to families and outside vendor/businesses/parent offices? How is information exchanged? What if there are no communicational tools? Who determines priorities of need and courses of action?
2. What specialized support do you anticipate needing and how do you get it?
3. What anticipated resources from your corporation may be needed and how do you identify those needs?
4. Communication Issues: Are communications systems adequate if commercial and cellular systems experience overload? What redundancies and alternatives are available? Does a backup communications plan exist? How will your staff obtain information on the status of their relatives? Would a hotline be established? How quickly could this service be established? Who is responsible for this task? Who will staff it?
5. This could be a long term incident, what are the current plans and logistics for staffing all services, rotating personnel, providing food and shelter, and providing for their families so they can continue their duties.
6. Who will be in charge of the main incident scene?
7. Are lines of authority delineated in this kind of event?
8. Under whose authority are evacuations ordered? Are there limits to this authority? How will evacuated areas be protected?
9. If there are long term disruptions in utilities do you have a contingency plan? If so, who is in charge of keeping up-to-date on utilities?
10. Infrastructure: Who is responsible for your computer systems? Do you have a contingency plan for how you will keep your business going if you do not have access to computers?
11. Is a lack of utilities identified in your response plan?
12. What is your public relations strategy at this point? What specific types of information should the public and your consumers need to hear at this time? What information needs to remain closely held?
13. How is information relayed to and from the EOC VOAD Liaison?
14. How is information passed along to the other VOAD members?
MODULE 3: RECOVERY & RESTORATION
2-DAYS LATER…
Saturday September 10 – 9:00 a.m. – The In-Kind Donations and Volunteer Nightmare
It has been two days since the initial earthquake and you have been receiving many calls on where and how to handle in-kind donations and there are still volunteers showing up to support the incident.
Currently, all utilities have been are still sporadic around the South County and water is still not available. Communication is also non-existent through most of the Santa Barbara City, Montecito and Carpinteria, Goleta has small pockets where communication is working.
Facilitated Questions – 20 minutes
1. Who is involved in damage assessment; does the plan determine the feasibility of equipment and supplies donated? Are there policies in place to turn down donations?
2. What do your plans and/or policies determine how, when and why you would use spontaneous volunteers?
3. Who is responsible for your making sure that equipment is not damaged during transport? And who determines transport of equipment or supplies? Who has authority and how far does that authority go? Does your business have financial reserves for this type of event and what is the policy for ordering equipment and supplies if needed?
4. How do you handle the staff/employees in regards to psychological first aid? Do your plans address how to handle staffs that are not comfortable in coming back to work?
5. Who is responsible for making sure that staff is kept up-to-date on progress of the event?
6. How are you going to handle In-Kind donations that are just dropped off?
7. How do you deal with the media if information is incorrect? How do you work with the media on getting our corrected information and is this a policy in your plan.
The most important question…
Did you prepare your staff for this type of event ahead of time? If not, what will you do to prepare them?
Draft 1.1: August 1, 2011 Page 1