Hurricane Katrina ? Assistance, Overcoming Consequence Chaos and the Importance of Contingency Planning

By Dennis Lormel

As a follow up to Andy�s post, I�d like to suggest that in addition to monetary contributions, those of us who are, or were, affiliated with businesses or government agencies in the stricken region contact those entities to offer assistance in the form of housing. I retired from the FBI almost two years ago. I, as many others in the FBI family, contacted the FBI�s Employee Assistance Program, at FBI Headquarters and volunteered to house families of current or former Bureau employees who were displaced by the storm.

With respect to Andy�s comments about preparedness, I�d like to offer my perspective. In certain assignments as an executive, I was responsible for crisis management. In my experience, no matter how well prepared you are for an incident, regardless of the type of incident, there is always a timeframe where chaos can overwhelm organization and communication. Those responsible for consequence management must integrate all responder services into the consequence response plan as quickly as possible, and in so doing, attempt to minimize chaos and confusion while maximizing organization and communications. This can be a very challenging process. The enormity of this disaster makes this process all the more difficult.

It�s not necessarily the preparation that�s the problem. It�s more likely that the problem at hand is dealing with the scope of the actual consequence. Unfortunately, in the best case scenario, establishing consequence organization, coordination and communication in this situation will be a slow process.

From a standpoint of lessons learned, we should realize how vulnerable we are not only to natural disasters, but to potential terrorist attacks. Think of what would happen if a major terrorist attack took place in the form of a dirty bomb being detonated in a large city. One of the failings that will come out of this situation is the lack of contingency planning at all levels. In addition to government at the local, state and federal levels, it is incumbent that individuals, families and companies establish and maintain contingency plans. My sense is that few companies or individuals and families had contingency plans in place. This should serve as a reminder to all of us.

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