Participants will learn what role The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints plays in a disaster, with examples from the Colorado Floods of 2013 and Hurrican Sandy.

1. Fairfax Summit
David R Fisher
LDS Charities

2. Organization Overview
• LDS Charities
• Subset of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day
Saints
• 100% donation financed
• 2012 donations = 2014 budget
• $50-100 million spent per year worldwide
• 36 worldwide employees
• Everyone else is a volunteer

3. Organization Hierarchy
• Membership – Est. 75,000 in Virginia
• Family – The most important church unit
• Wards/Branches (Congregations) – Est. 125 in Virginia
• Stakes - 19 in Virginia – 6-10 congregations per Stake
• Coordinating Councils – 4 in Virginia
• Area Seventy – 2 for Virginia
• LDS Charities - World Wide

4. Disaster Support
• There is no ongoing disaster effort in typical church
facilities
• Each congregation leader has a limited checkbook to
help a few individuals (not organizations)
• Each Stake President has limited discretion to help a
few organizations (but not individuals)
• When authorized, LDS Charities can make major
resources available in the event of a disaster
• My role is to help connect these internal groups (and
connect the church with outside groups)

5. Continuity Of Operations Plans
• Typical meetinghouse weekly schedule:
– 200 people meet Sunday morning
– 200 others meet Sunday afternoon
– 50 people meet Tuesday evening
– 50 others meet Wednesday evening
– Sometimes an activity in the Gym
– Sometimes the janitor is there
• No secretary to answer phones
• No mail delivery at this location
• Most of the time the building is totally empty

6. My Continuity Of Operations Plan
• Barely relates to:
• Daily operations
• Sunday meetings
• Money flow
• Mostly relates to:
• Building ―Be Prepared‖ value in individuals
• Establishing communications after an event
• Establishing an information/decision center
• Involving LDS Charities as required
• Meeting needs of the community

7. Continuity of Operations Plans
• First focus is in on the Family
• Encourage self sufficiency
• Adequate finances, insurance, etc.
• Have an emergency plan
• Typical 72 hour kit
• Promote major food storage (sustain life not lifestyle)
• 3 months of your ―normal‖ food
• Up to 9 months of long term storage

9. Continuity of Operations Plans
• Second focus is on Facilities
• Establish an open communications link to determine
the status of member and church facilities
• Communicate status and needs to church leaders
and to members
• Evaluate general community situation, needs, etc.
• Gather appropriate leadership and develop an action
plan

10. Disasters Cross
Boundaries
• Fairfax has a boundary
• Red Cross serves Fairfax (but different boundaries)
• Salvation Army (again different boundaries)
• Southern Baptists (again different boundaries)
• Senior Center, FeedMore, etc.
Boundaries shouldn‘t get in the way of filling
needs
Pre-established relationships can erase
boundaries

11. Disasters don‘t follow a Schedule
• Typical Family Day
• Son at school 8-2
• Daughter at school 9-3
• Son at soccer 4-6
• Daughter at girl scouts 7-9
• Dad at work 8-6
• Dad at PTA 7-9
• Mom trying to work and keep up with all this
Disasters should only be allowed at
night when everybody is in the same
place

12. Four Recent Experiences
• Mom and kids unhurt, trapped in house by fallen
trees
• Straight-line wind event in Lynchburg area
• Hurricane Sandy experience in NY & NJ
• Floods in Colorado

13. Trapped in house experience
• Husband on active duty overseas
• Storm trapped wife and kids in house in Eastern
VA
• Veterans group contacted VOAD in Western Va
• VOAD person knew me and called (Richmond)
• I called VOAD leader in Eastern Va (never met)
• Somebody handled the trees that afternoon
• I have no idea who did it – the system worked

14. Lynchburg Area - Wind Event
• 60,000 without power
• Many wells = no power means no water
• Stores out of water – lines waiting for delivery
• Arranged with LDS Charities for two truckloads bottled water
• Problem - our churches have no fork trucks or unloading
facilities
• Routed trucks to two local service organizations with existing
unloading and distribution systems

15. Hurricane Sandy
• This video will provide local church leaders
with some disaster expectations
• Most have no experience with disasters
• Most have little idea how to respond to a local
disaster
• Most have no idea how to respond to remote
disasters
• About 20% of leaders change each year, so this will
be an ongoing problem
• The video should orient leaders by showing
successes, and preparing them to ―change hats‖ if
necessar

16. Colorado Floods
• Most slides provided by Bill Tolbert (Colorado
VOAD representative)

17. The Storm
• 9th- 16th September 2013
• 15‖-20‖ of Rain in a 3 day period
• Caused an Est* $1B in Damage
• 14 Counties Impacted (*estimates)
• *19,000 Homes Damaged
• *1,500 Homes Destroyed
• *30 State Bridges Destroyed
• *43,134 Gallons of Oil Spills
• 11,000+ Evacuated (1,750 by ANG)
• 8 Fatalities
Caused by plume tropical moisture over
the Rockies (Monsoon); High Pressure
over Midwest; Upper Atmosphere Low
Pressure over the Great Basin;
Movement stalled over Colorado

18. The Storm ―If‖…
This is what a 15‖-20‖ Rain would have looked like if the
weather had come as November Snow!

19. What are we going to talk
about?
• Building Bridges between the Faith-Based Groups and
Community Emergency Management/Responders
• How to be Part of a ―Whole Community‖
• Language and Structure of Disaster Response
• Preparedness Foundations
• Individual/Group Preparedness
• Community Preparedness
• How ―Bridges‖ Will Work
• Local Disasters
• Wide Area Disasters

20. Ecclesiastical Perspective—
Why?
• As Faith Based Leaders We Have a Dual
Responsibility to our Members
• The ―spiritual‖ welfare of our Members
• The ―temporal‖ welfare of our Members (safety, security)
• We need to be ―Ready‖ as a Faith-based
group
• Extraordinary Opportunity to Work
Together to Help Strengthen our
Communities
Like an Inter-Faith Choir…1+1=3

21. Ecclesiastical Lessons Learned
• Disasters Will Happen at the ―Worst of Times‖
• Are your Congregations Going to be Waiting for
―Higher Authority‖ to Arrive in a Disaster?
• How Big is your Emergency Communications
―Tool Box‖?
• What/Where are your ―Emergency Resources‖?
• Are you and your Members ―Ready‖ !

22. Basic Emergency ―Rules of 3‘s‖
• There are 3 ‗Emergency Time Frames‘
• Preparedness-Response-Recovery
• Pre-event, First 72 hrs, Post 72+ hrs
• There are 3 ‗Preparedness Levels‘
• Individual-Group-Community
• There are 3 ‗Gov‘t Responder Levels‘
• Local-State-Federal
• Local & State = Office of Emergency
Management (―OEMs‖)

23. ―Whole Community‖
Philosophy
“We need to move away from the
mindset that Federal and State
Governments are always in the
lead, and build upon the strengths of
our local communities and, more
importantly, our citizens.
We must treat individuals and
communities as key assets rather
than liabilities.”
W. Craig Fugate, FEMA Administrator

24. ―Whole Community‖ Philosophy
• Shifting focus to a ―Whole Community‖ Response
• Responsibility, Authority, Resources moving to local
levels
• DHS/FEMA Learned that ―Top Down‖ Doesn‘t Work
• Don‘t know the ‗battlefield‘ like locals
• Can‘t respond adequately in the timeframe needed
• Not cost effective in a declining $$$ environment
• All Emergency Response is ―Local‖
• Need to ―Work Together‖!

25. Why ―Be Ready‖
• 1st Responders make up about 1% of the
population
• System intended for simple, single events
• NYC was 9 hours behind in 911 calls…
• Less than 20% still on duty after 72hrs
• Public emergency resources are limited
• Call centers and phone service will quickly
overload
• Shelves will be empty <72 hrs
• Tucson AZ experience; 100% trauma resources
absorbed

26. Local Bridges: 1+1 can equal 3
• To be a ―Whole Community‖ you need to be a
• ―Known‖ and ―Trusted‖ Resource to Emergency Managers
• Know the Language and Structure of Emergency
Response
• You need to have a good Foundation in Place
• Prepared Individuals and Families with good Emergency
Plan
• The OEM needs to recognize your Value
• Buildings/Sheltering, Tools, Equipment
• Ham Radio Nets, Language Skills
• Organize/Lead Volunteer Force
• Other Critical Resources

27. It‘s a Two Way Bridge
• EM‘s can provide valuable training to F-B Leaders
―ICS/NIMS‖, ―Are You Ready‖, ―Be Ready‖, ―CERT‖, ―CAP‖
• You can have key relationships in place…before…
•To help get you past the ―Yellow Tape‖
•To get Early Warning and Timely Information
• You can Shape your Emergency Role

28. Colorado LDS Church Initiative
• An LDS story that started 2 yrs ago…
• Began with Basic Emergency Preparedness
• Expanded to ―Building Bridges‖ with State/County/Local
Emergency Managers
• Resulted in the Development of New Faith-Based
Emergency Response and Recovery Plans, Structures, and
Tools (―including an Emergency Response Framework‖)
• Tested thru 2 Years of Wildfires, Tornadoes, and Severe
Storms, including a ―Millennial Flood‖ Event in September

29. Colorado LDS Church Initiative
• Church Leaders Knew How To:
• Recognize the Disaster and Organize their Response
• Set up an Emergency Operations Center
• Organize , Deploy and Manage Volunteer Teams
• Be a Prime Resource to their County OEM‘s
Results
• Provided over 6,000+ Volunteers/―Helping Hands‖
• Provided over 45,000+ Volunteer Hours Helping Others

30. What‘s Next for Your Faith-Based Group?
• Prepare at Multiple Levels!
• Motivate your Members to Prepare
• Make an Emergency Plan
• Structure your Emergency Team
• Put an EmCom ―Toolbox‖ in-place
• Identify/Organize Resources
• Train your Leaders
• NIMS/ICS leader training; Psych 1st Aid
• Prepare your Facilities
• ARC ―Partner Shelter‖ Ops Training

31. What‘s Next for Your Faith-Based Group?
• Join Colorado VOAD (www.coloradoVOAD.org)
• (Virginia VOAD)
• Build Bridges with your local OEM!
• Ask for a Bridge-Building Meeting with County
• Establish Key ―Connection Points‖
• Participate in Local Exercises
• Participate in Local Citizens Corps Activities
• Be a Local Resource/Wide Area Resource

32. Questions
• How‘s your Continuity Of Operations Plan?
• What should it cover?
• Have you tested/exercised it?
• Are your leaders ready?
• Are your members/volunteers ready?
• Are you ready?