October 2005

Disaster can strike anywhere

Is your newspaper ready?

As Hurricane Rita slammed into Southeast Texas on Sept. 24 newspapers activated their disaster plans by evacuating staff and computers inland, transferring print operations to reciprocal plants and publishing online-only editions.

Still other newspapers were left in limbo in towns that shut down for weeks under forced evacuation and widespread electricity outages.

The lessons learned from Rita are still unfolding but the disaster proves one thing — all newspapers need to have a disaster plan. Disasters are not limited to hurricanes and can strike any time and anywhere. Is your newspaper prepared?

First-hand Advice

The Courier in Houma, La., was one of the newspapers hit hard by Hurricane Katrina in August. Executive editor Keith McGill offered the following tips to the Southern Newspaper Publisher Association’s ebulletin to help other newspapers caught in disasters:

• Throw out the once-a-day deadlines. Immediately after Katrina hit, The Courier set up a blog (Web journal); reporters began filing everything from where to go for ice to their personal observations from the field.

• Post photos liberally. At its peak, The Courier’s Web site was getting 300,000 page views a day – nearly 10 times its normal rate. Among the most popular items were the constantly updated and expanded photo galleries.

• Accept help from anywhere you can get it. The Courier greatly enhanced its firepower with the help of employees throughout the building. Advertising and composing staff, for instance, made phone calls all across town to find out what groceries were open, what neighborhoods had power restored, which gas stations were operating and a host of other information that The Courier was able to post to the Web immediately and publish in its daily newspaper.

“This was the first news event in which our Web coverage far outpaced our print coverage,” Magill said. “It t aught us a lot of lessons about the power of the Web and the need for immediacy. It broadened our definition of what is possible.”

Disaster Planning Toolkit

The Small Business Administration says the best time to respond to a disaster is before it happens — a relatively small investment of time and money now may prevent severe damage and disruption of life and business in the future. Here are some SBA tips to prepare a disaster plan:

FACILITIES-BUILDINGS & EQUIPMENT TIPS

• Develop contingency plans to remain in operation if your office, plant, or store is unusable. Could you operate out of your home or a nearby storefront? Could you quickly transport critical items such as computers, inventory, and equipment? Could you save replaced equipment and reactivate it in an emergency? Could you store inventory, equipment, and supplies off-site?

• Keep an extra of any hard-to-replace parts or supplies on hand. Store them off-site. If this cannot be done, work with suppliers in advance to assure a secure and adequate supply. Store several days’ supply in a place that is not vulnerable to the same disaster as your facility. Be sure to keep this auxiliary supply up-to-date.

• Make upgrades now that would prevent possible future damage. Strengthening exterior walls, adding a retaining wall, or shoring up a creek bank are relatively minor projects in comparison to losing the building to flood waters.

OPERATIONS TIPS

• Purchase a backup generator to maintain full operations or critical functions such as refrigeration, lighting, security systems, and computer control in the event of a power failure.

• Have back-up vendors and shippers in place in case your primary ones are disabled. Set up relationships in advance and maintain them. Place occasional orders so that they regard you as an active customer when you need them.

INFORMATION & COMMUNICATION TIPS

• Make backup copies of all critical records such as accounting and employee data, as well as customer lists, production formulas, and inventory. Keep a backup copy of your computer’s basic operating system, boot files, and critical software. Store a copy of all vital information on-site and a second in a safe off-site location. Make it a critical part of your routine to regularly back up files.

• Make pre-arrangements with computer vendors to quickly replace damaged vital hardware.  Keep invoices, shipping lists, and other documentation of your system configuration off-site so you can quickly order the correct replacement components. Take care of credit checks, purchase accounts and other vendor requirements in advance.

• Surge-protect all computer and phone equipment through power and phone lines. A power surge through a telephone line can destroy an entire computer through a connected modem.  Invest in a surge protector that has a battery backup to assure that systems keep working through blackouts.

• Maintain an up-to-date copy of phone numbers, computer and Internet logon codes and passwords, employee phone numbers and other critical information in an accessible location. Develop an employee “telephone tree” to rapidly contact employees in an emergency.

INSURANCE TIPS

• Review your current insurance coverage. Is it enough to get your business back in operation? Will it cover the replacement cost of vital facilities? Make it a regular annual procedure to review and update insurance. Also remember that insurance on mortgaged property probably only covers the lender with nothing left over for you.

• Be aware of your contents insurance.

• Know what your insurance does not cover. Most general casualty policies do not cover flood damage. Many require additional riders for windstorm, sewer backup, or earth movement.

• Consider business interruption insurance that assists you with operating needs during a period of shutdown. It may help you meet payrolls, pay vendors, and purchase inventory until you are in full operation again. Also be prepared for the extraordinary costs of a disaster such as leasing temporary equipment, restoring lost data, and hiring temporary workers.

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Don’t assume that, just because it never happened before, it never will. Plan for the worst. For more information on disaster planning log onto www.sba.gov/disaster_recov/.