In the Eye of the Storm

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In the Eye of the Storm
Mary Schleinschok Assistant Vice President
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Hurricane Rita Disaster
Houston, Texas September 19-28, 2005
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Pre-HurricaneSituation

• Category 5 Hurricane scheduled for landfall
  Friday evening/Saturday morning (70 miles SE
  Houston)
• Employees from all over region including those in
  Voluntary and Mandatory Evacuation zones
• Wednesday morning- Announcement of AIM Houston
  offices closing Thursday and Friday

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Preparation for closing of Office

• Contacts and Vendors notified
• Crash training of other site personnel on
  unfamiliar items
• Call trees reviewed/updated
• Clear desks/close blinds/log off computers
• Reroute Phones
• Send select few to additional Business
  Recovery sites

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Closed for Business

• Second site handled all phone volumes and a small
  amount of mail
• Recovery mode including overtime, various work
  hours
• Seamless for client
• Conference calls with senior management
  throughout the disaster
• Associates referred to company disaster relief
  line for updates

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Houston on the Move (or not)
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(No Transcript)
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Personal Effects

• Cell phone lines jammed, not working
• Grid lock traffic
• Stores and gas stations closed
• Live communication with employees was minimal
  during recovery time

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Hurricane Rita Damage in Houston
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Back to Work

• Most employees back on Monday
• Staggered return based on Mayors recommendation
• Full staff on Wednesday
• Phone volumes transferred back to Houston on
  Monday
• USPS/Overnight mail slow to return as well

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What Went Right

• Good communication throughout the organization
• Our company Disaster Line provided employees
  direction
• We are almost fully redundant at another site
• Most procedures documented on intranet
• Disaster Recovery exercise planned that weekend
• Seamless service for our clients
• Recovered quickly
• Hurricane went in a different direction!

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Lessons Learned

• Didnt plan for community effects (traffic, fuel
  shortage)
• Things you rely on sometimes arent available
• Need to review and update procedures
• Provide for ability for most facets of the
  business to recover at another site
• Continue to conduct Business Recovery tests
• Importance of immediately performing a
  post-disaster review

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Conclusion

• Document procedures for others to follow
• Remember the Human Touch
• Test, Test, Test