Disaster Preparedness Initiative
The Challenge
When a major disaster strikes Silicon Valley it will not be confined to any one city or even a county; it will be regional. When the Loma Prieta earthquake hit in 1989, it affected more than 10 counties and 60 cities, bringing both private and public sector to a halt. Emergency response personnel responded quickly and effectively, but restoring business to normalcy took months and in some cases, years.
To be sure, California is extremely well prepared for natural disasters affecting one or a few cities. But region-wide disasters require resources beyond those available to the public sector, and a trusted party in the middle facilitating a careful process of collaboration. Private sector resources will be needed to put the public infrastructure back together. The private sector won’t be able to restore operations without public sector leadership. Schools, churches, and community-based organizations will also need to be involved.
There’s a great deal at stake, should we fail: because Silicon Valley’s economy is so knowledge-intensive, many of our companies can re-locate to other regions quickly. If our recovery is slow, brainpower and capital might flow elsewhere, and our economy will falter.
Today, the public and private sectors do not have any formally established or systematic way to mesh their plans. They have different management structures and use different terminology. To use a single example: if a construction supply company wants to bring emergency materials into the Valley, they will have to interface with individual logistics and operations managers in numerous emergency operations centers—16 in Santa Clara County alone—and there is no means to do that today, or any efforts to streamline the process. It is also clear that emergency supplies will have to be flown in, but we currently lack any regional accords on airport usage and protocol.
In the same way that Joint Venture is working on fast-track permitting processes for routine construction, we will need fast track processes for rebuilding after a disaster. Emergency response personnel will need quick access to information about which resources have been compromised and which are ready for use. Our businesses and home owners will need quick access to capital to rebuild and restore operations.
In sum, a regional disaster is going to require planning, preparation, and a regional priority setting process. Joint Venture is working to provide it.
Our Approach
Responding to a regional disaster involves three stages: PLANNING, RESPONSE, and RECOVERY. Joint Venture has brought together the key people in the public and private sectors to examine our preparedness for all three stages of response.
We identified leaders in the public and private sectors, and brought in leaders of community-base organizations with resources to contribute and constituencies that will need special assistance. We have held a series of meetings with these leaders and collected hundreds of observations about our current disaster response resources and procedures. We looked at organizational structures, funding, impediments to actions, and requirements for access to communications infrastructure and information when confronting a regional disaster.
Flowing naturally from this process, the team has formed a steering committee and sub-committees on planning, response and recovery. The committees have identified specific projects, and one program for further development:
- Common Operational Picture (a way to view information on resources and situations with a geographic location focus). Silicon Valley View will show Silicon Valley—specific resources – people, businesses, organizations, equipment, and more, useful for recovery.
- Disaster Response Center – located to receive, store, and distribute emergency supplies for the Silicon Valley region, regardless of source.
- Regional Management Process for Silicon Valley Recovery.
- Regional Funds for Recovery and process for funding and allocation.
- High Speed Information Network to interconnect the Emergency Operations Centers, public and private.
- Program for Preparedness – on-going activities to educate and implement specific individual, family, and care-giver preparedness from the current 3% measured level to substantially higher participation as well as self-sustainability for people for up to a week.
Leadership
Co-chairs
Alex Kennett
CEO
Solutions Inc.
Liz Kniss
Supervisor
County of Santa Clara.
Committee Chairs
Miguel Grey
Santa Clara County Office of Emergency Services
Jim Wollbrinck
Santa Jose Water
John Sweat
Lockheed-Martin
Project Leader
Rick Ellinger
Joint Venture: Silicon Valley Network