Hurricane Preparedness: Pre and Post activities
The old Adage "prepare for the worst …." is very much applicable here. If anything can go wrong it will, especially at wind speeds in excess of 120mph. So right from stocking water bottles, batteries, flashlights, paneling windows, topping up cars and gensets to ensuring that the contraflows are opened at right time for evacuations determine how effectively we could "…hope for the best".
Timing is important. While you may not want to trim trees for the next year's hurricane season, advance planning of some of the long lead preventive measures, like building levies, gates and seawalls, will mean that these can be activated within very short time interval. Sufficient funding need to be made available for continuous maintenance of these important assets so that they perform their critical task effectively when and whenever they are called upon to do so.
The post activities are mainly prioritizing and resource mobilization. The key for achieving quicker normalcy is the ability to quickly restore the basic infrastructure and enable essential services like power and communications. Prioritization could be based on parameters such as importance or criticality of the asset and its dependencies with respect to other assets. Such studies should have been completed much in advance. The 'next thing to focus upon' should be based on using those priorities mixed with ground realities (availability of skills, spares, tools and safe access).
Incorporating new learning from success as well as failures for a better and efficient next cycle pre-planning activities is critical as well. They lead to better design going forward. It can be seen in Houston that learning's from hurricane Rita were effectively used to prevent unnecessary panic and being more managed during hurricane Ike. Local authorities rightly deserve a pat which also leads us to expect that next time, the turn around time for getting power restored will be far quicker.
And we continue our journey as humans, who with each passing challenge have adapted ourselves to the environment more efficiently and effectively.
