The document discusses principles of resilience in emergency preparedness. It argues that rigid exercises do not fully prepare responders for real disasters, as real events are unpredictable. International cooperation and more flexible "demonstrations" that incorporate failures and collaboration are better for developing resilience. The Strong Angel exercises showed the importance of layering communications, transportation, and power resources, as well as using open-source, redundant, and diverse tools. Face-to-face relationships and frequent communication also improve response. Media training is important to avoid potential consequences of poor interactions.

1. I EMERGENCY PREPAREDNESS I by Doug Hanchard and Eric Rasmussen
Principles of Resilience
An Evolution in
Preparedness
an exercise, they’ll be reasonably sure of
Many FrontLine readers are directly makes us more diligent – but there is an doing it during an actual event, a reflec-
responsible for emergency preparedness evolution in disaster preparedness that tion of the military dictum “train as you’ll
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within their community, region, or may alter our methods for preparation, fight, then fight as you trained.”
nation. We recognize that our prepara- perhaps enhancing our eventual effective- There are minor flaws in that supposi-
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tions for catastrophe are based on our ness in a real-world disaster. tion. It presumes that the entire team will
education and research, our best thinking Exercises, usually the capstone event be present and functioning at peak; that
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about specific areas, and how best to use in disaster preparedness, are frequently resources will flow as designed; that the
our (always limited) resources. We also rigid, with pre-defined metrics and mile- real-world problem will look like the
know that, when chaos finally strikes, the stones to ensure that the team is covering exercise scenario you’ve chosen; and that
drills and inventories and manuals that responsibilities in the “real-world.” The the non-actors in your exercise (the
gave us a reasonable degree of confidence implication is that if the team can do X in media, your neighbors, your national gov-
will prove inadequate in some fashion. ernment, local private industry, roads,
We are aware that our populations may waterways, civilian communications,
someday suffer in ways that, in retro- International cooperation, civilian food and water logistics, and the
spect, might have been partially avoid- mandated “to learn” will weather, for example…) will also be non-
able. This understanding of the challenges actors in a real event. There are now
we face stimulates us in our tasks and allow us to be truly prepared. models for how several of these can be
Strong Angel III demonstrated that using multi-media technology to collect and push
information to the outside world improves the team’s capability to solve problems.
13 I FrontLine Security I SPRING 2007 PHOTO: JOHN CROWLEY

2. incorporated into a disaster response sustaining responses, and that a careful cation, and core public health resource
demonstration (quite different from an hybrid of policy-and-procedure, coupled management in a post-event reconstruc-
exercise) in a manner that forces flexibil- with well-trained independence, is often tion. The third, in 2006, looked at com-
ity, adaptability, and the co-development closer to ideal. munity resilience in the face of a natural
of resilience within both the responders disaster (including an epidemic), where
and the communities at risk. Comms, Lift, and Power all outside resources were lost for an
extended period. Strong Angel III involved
Policy and Procedures There are a few core issues during the roughly 800 participants from nine
first phases of a disaster where most nations, including more than 70 national
Policies and procedures are a critical responders would expect shortfalls. For and international corporations, and sev-
component of our disaster preparation, many of us, those would start with com- eral academic institutions.
ensuring we’ve thought carefully about a munications, transportation logistics, and From that very large, week-long
range of possible eventualities and done electrical power. Without those three, effort, in an isolated and challenging envi-
what we could, physically and procedu- comms, lift, and power, very little can be ronment (a cold, dark, hazardous building
rally, to prepare for them. Those guide- effectively designed or implemented as a abandoned for fifteen years), came a set
lines, however, rarely offer the flexibility disaster unfolds. “Layering” is a term of lessons and pragmatic tools that have
to simply adapt to what’s working in the sometimes used to define a process for altered disaster preparedness discussions
real world when the event occurs. preparing as many methods for the deliv- at the highest levels of several govern-
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Acquisition methods are often slow, ery of each of these critical resources as ments, and are worth reviewing.
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and sometimes driven by a single individ- can be devised.
ual’s familiarity with current research in • Collaborative Layering
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the field – this can lead to missed oppor- Strong Angel
tunities for making important connections On the list of early considerations is the
with new capabilities outside of our exer- Over the past seven years there have concept of layering (used in the same
cise space. We all have regulatory and been three international disaster response sense as when the weather cannot quite
management structures, but we also need demonstrations called Strong Angel – and be predicted). It implies designing for
to communicate frequently and effec- each Strong Angel has demonstrated the resilience and a graceful degradation
tively with each other and with an consequences of shortfalls in comms, lift, mode, even when the most unexpected
affected population. Today’s methods are and power. events occur.
rapidly evolving, and bear serious review. The first, in 2000, was a displaced- For most of us, some sections of our
In our view, policies and procedures population problem addressing civil- plans have assumptions that seem so
often restrict creativity-toward-success in military co-management in the field. The fundamental that we simply accept them,
favor of a more centralized and hierarchical second, in 2004, was driven by problems but is that wise? At Strong Angel we
security. First responders acknowledge identified in Afghanistan and Iraq, and worked carefully to remove some of
that such restrictions can impede life- looked at communications, cultural edu- those assumptions. We eliminated, at odd
PHOTO: JOHN CROWLEY
Daily briefings are key to the
success of any exercise. We
briefed three times a day
during Strong Angel.
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3. intervals, power, light, radio waves, trans-
portation, wireless clouds, staff, hierarchi-
cal structures, and expectations.
This intermittent and unpredictable
loss of fundamental resources led to a
responsive and highly collaborative effort
PHOTO: JOHN CROWLEY
that, in turn, led to some very creative
synthesis and a degree of success that sur-
prised virtually every participant. It was
also a superb team-building demonstra-
tion – it led to very high morale and a
genuine sense of earned self-confidence. Medical teams learned how to interoperate with other groups and technologies.
We had, for example, Bell Canada and
Sprint Nextel sitting at the same table
writing configurations together to make cols. In the scenario, the Commander • Redundant, Diverse, Resilient,
their systems work seamlessly because knew nothing of the Incident Command and Open-source
neither could meet a new and urgent task System and asked no organizational
development questions of the assembled Questions asked by the Scene Com-
independently and (in the scenario) lives
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team. He simply determined what he, a mander were both basic and complex.
were at stake. The answers required rapid assessment of
genuine expert in the circumstances but
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In any Strong Angel demonstration, critical information from many sources,
failure is an occasional and accepted out- who knew nothing of the community,
and collection, analysis, and reporting tool
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come – though not encouraged. However, needed from the crowd. He then
demanded those things to be accurately development soon took on a life of its
failures become fewer and the creative own. The Scene Commander was very
initiatives more admirable over time. It is determined on a scheduled basis – no
matter how the information was derived clear about the accuracy and reporting
important to note that the more often a requirements – the teams on the ground
broad-based team faces unexpected chal- as long as it was trustworthy and accurate
to a sensible degree. The information was had specific guidance on what and when,
lenges that push toward collaboration-across-
then built into further requirements for but not how! They were left to their own
boundaries, the more readily they reach for
assessment and action and the develop- devices for solving problems, using any
interesting solutions. Each begins to look
ment of a plan. That plan, in turn, was tools at hand.
at other agencies, organizations, and
implemented throughout a large geo- The teams soon realized that a work-
interests as a common pool from which
graphic area with only ad hoc communi- ing directory of who was doing what,
to draw life-sustaining support when
cations that yet needed close coordina- where and with what resources was a
resource silos and stovepipes collapse.
tion. Tough problems. critical component of effective and timely
It became readily apparent to partici- work. A “Dynamic Directory” was born,
• Leadership and several individuals were given
pants that a system of flows was needed
In Strong Angel, the initial conditions were – information, decision, and action. Some responsibility for maintaining it – dedicat-
set with no hierarchy and no one in rough starts over 24 hours led to the ing valuable staff resources in the middle
charge. Mid-way through the first day, development of a fairly complete Incident of an emergency because they determined
several hours into the response, a CDC Command System, on the current model. that capability was absolutely necessary.
physician, coincidentally in the newly-iso- The reasons for such a system were clear The participants also found that
lated city for a conference, was appointed to the large number of non-Emergency proprietary tools were… unhelpful. Tools
Scene Commander by the US President, Response participants and it seemed well- built on open-standards that interoperate
completely bypassing all standard proto- designed for a domestic response. gracefully saved time and irritation dur-
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4. It is not always possible for your staff
PHOTO: JOHN CROWLEY
to avoid the media, despite perhaps care-
ful instructions to do so, therefore, prepar-
ing them for that interaction is a fair and
sensible part of their training. We use a
three-day course at Strong Angel, called the
Media Crucible, and the role-playing
there, under multiple scenarios and
increasing pressures, has reportedly been
most useful later for its participants in a
number of real-world events.
Resources Improve
Strong Angel III started with roughly 50
disaster-response tasks to perform, and
most were completed successfully. Some
were simple, some complex, some trivial,
Equipment has to operate and be and some impossible. Each was designed
useable 7/24. Teams learn how to to meet a real-world problem experienced
operate in extreme environments. by one of the eleven Executive Com-
Temperatures here were regularly
mittee members. Each proposed scenario
over 30°Celsius.
was evaluated on the likelihood that such
a problem would re-appear again in the
ing a period of crisis, and our initial we needed to do was download the most future. If we agreed it would, we included
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choices of software and radios provided recent version (at no charge) periodically. it as a task for which we’d pursue solu-
reassuring evidence of a pre-conceived Social Interoperability Networking tions. In doing so, we found that the ad
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willingness to cooperate with partners. (SIN) events, one term for such designed hoc resources available to an emergency
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We also noted repeatedly that per- and metrics-based mashups of people and responder in 2007 are more useful than
sonal, face-to-face communications saved technologies, like Strong Angel, are useful most realize, and the tools in the commu-
time and improved efficiency. Personal for many tasks, not just disaster nity, both technical and social, are becom-
relationships also help reduce the risk of responses. Capabilities like Skype (or ing paradoxically more sophisticated and
small errors becoming inflated, distracting Groove, or Jot, or MySpace, or wikis, or simple all the time. S
issues. In our view, using every conceiv- blogs, or…) are most beneficial when used
able opportunity to meet, chat, share frequently. It’s sensible for any Emergency Strong Angel IV is in planning stages for
a cup of coffee, work through practical Manager to ensure his staff has the tools 2008. Further information, and the results
and strategic issues over dinners, and (and reasons) for frequently reaching out of the 50 or so demonstration tasks pursued
arranging tabletop exercises that gave to other responder agencies, offering in Strong Angel III, can all be found at
good reason for everyone to participate relevant assistance and keeping the multi- www.strongangel3.org
collaboratively, all helped to cement a lateral flow of information smooth.
Frequent communication over non- U.S. Navy Commander Dr. Eric Rasmussen
coherently smooth emergency response.
standard and ad hoc methods keeps is Chairman of the Department of Medicine
We were careful to include all of the
everyone aware that, when bad things at the U.S. Navy Medical Center outside
actors who might potentially affect those
happen, policies and procedures should Seattle, Washington. He is also Director
in the field, not just EMS – power, water,
be known and used where they fit, but of the Strong Angel series of humanitarian
light, schools, airport authorities, city
there should be little hesitation in support demonstrations, and is currently
councils, vets, mosques, churches, syna- deployed to Afghanistan working on medical
empowering far-forward personnel to
gogues and more were all on our invita- reconstruction.
make independent judgments that get the
tion list.
job done intelligently. Doug Hanchard is Director and Architect,
One tool proved exceptionally effec-
tive. The use of internet-based chat and Solution Management Practice at Bell
Voice-over-IP (VoIP) through tools like Media Complications Canada. He was an Executive Committee
Skype cost very little, are commonly used One frequently overlooked training member, Technical Communications Advisor
by a very large number of people, are requirement in disaster response is media and civilian leader for United States Marine
dependent only upon internet connectiv- management. There will be more media Corp MCI-West RSS unit at Strong Angel
ity of any kind, and can call any phone on and more politics than preferred – and the III. In addition he serves as Technical
the planet. We also found that off-the- consequences of a poor interaction in Communications Advisor for World Wide
shelf resources like Skype continually either can be disastrous, even if the actual Consortium for the Grid (www.w2cog.org)
improve through market pressures and all response is performed reasonably and well. – U.S. Northcom.
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