Are You Prepared?

Although the Georgia Coast has not been impacted with hurricane damage in the past few years,  we still want to be prepared and plan for an evacuation.  Do you have a current backup of your data ready if we were asked to evacuate the campus today?  When evacuations are in place the majority of an individuals concern is to get home to prepare our family for the evacuation.  But think for a minute of the worst case scenario, your computer was badly damaged by the storm and you've lost all your work.  If you make plans now and keep a current backup, those fears are not likely to become a reality.

So, what should you do?  Make a plan, test the plan, and be ready.

Make a Plan

It's always better to know ahead of time the actions you would take if you were confronted with an emergency. A contingency plan, a description of the actions, resources, and procedures needing to take place before an unplanned event, would assist you during an emergency and help reduce the chaos and stress which usually accompanies an emergency.  The contingency plan would also allow for a better defined recovery since predefined procedures would have taken place before the disaster.  Once you have completed the contingency plan, begin working on a recovery plan which will document the procedures needed for returning to normal working conditions.

Test the Plan

The plans should be periodically tested to expose errors and shortcomings.  Practice putting the plans into action.  Keep information of the plans current:  emergency phone numbers, verify the availability of those designated to be responsible for certain items/procedures within the plans, and review resources and procedures.

It's the responsibility of the each department and the users within to safeguard the resources needed for daily operations.  Each user is responsible for his/her data - this applies to everyday activities, not just in an emergency.  If you have backups, you should perform a recovery test from them to make sure your backups are good.

In the event of a Hurricane Watch:

• Backup all important data on media that you can take with you:  floppy diskette, zip disk, network drives or CD-ROM disc if you have a CD-ROM writable drive. Click here for more information about creating backups.
  

• The necessary supplies to prepare your office equipment for possible wind and rain damage will be delivered to each department by Plant Operations.

In the event of a Hurricane Warnings:

• Please follow the procedures posted on the Hurricane Response Plan at http://www.armstrong.edu/hurricane/.

Items/Issues to consider when making your contingency and recovery plans:

• Keep a current backup.  If you have a backup, perform a recovery test to assure it's a good backup.
• Define all critical resources and applications in your area.
• Each department should have a designated person that will be responsible for maintaining and testing the plans.
• Establish minimum requirements for disaster recovery.
• Create an emergency call list:  how and where will you communicate with the folks in your department, who should be ready to return upon notification.
• Keep a current inventory of equipment in your office/department - include serial numbers.
• Designate a central location for software licenses (proof of legal ownership), media, valuable manuals, vendor information, preprinted forms, and backup copies of critical documentation.