Opinion: Katrina Brought Out the Best of IT

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December 5, 2005 (Computerworld) -- Hurricane Katrina was the worst natural disaster in U.S. history. It displaced more than a million people and created a federal disaster area covering 90,000 square miles. Its effects were unprecedented, but the response from the IT industry was powerful. Working through the American Red Cross , the industry donated tens of millions of dollars in cash, products and services.
Companies also sent thousands of volunteers into the area to support relief efforts. This is the story of one disaster response effort that had enormous impact.

Katrina hit New Orleans on Monday, Aug. 29. The magnitude of the disaster increased significantly on Tuesday when the levee broke and the flooding began. Steve Cooper, CIO at the American Red Cross, realized that the response effort required would be enormous. He knew that the capacity of his IT organization, while extensive, would fall short of what was needed, so he asked the CIOs at his major IT suppliers to meet at Red Cross headquarters in Washington.

On Thursday, Sept. 1, 60 executives from 27 organizations attended the meeting on one day's notice, and all of them offered help. The participating companies included giant vendors and small suppliers spanning the industry (see www.redcross.org/sponsors/helping.html ). They agreed to contribute cash, products, services and people to the relief efforts.

At the initial meeting, three things happened that were critical to the success of the effort. First, Cooper asked the companies to put aside industry competition and focus on helping the victims. They did. Second, Cooper admitted that he didn't have the resources to respond sufficiently and asked for help. Several attendees stated their admiration for his candid and timely request for help. Often, they said, people wait too long to ask for assistance. Third, the Red Cross asked the group to formulate a plan together, instead of mandating a particular solution.

By late Thursday, the group had come up with a relief strategy, and by Saturday - just five days after Katrina hit -- multicompany teams began work on the following major IT projects:

Shelter services. One team developed a system to register and track people in shelters. This was not straightforward, since shelters were created in multiple locations (schools, churches, hotels and public buildings) and opened and closed in response to changing demands. Intel and Cisco led the team that donated and installed a standard communications kit at each site, including PCs, VoIP phones, wiring and supporting infrastructure. These kits served as phone banks and computer centers for each shelter, enabling survivors to communicate with family members.

Financial assistance. Normally, the Red Cross sends response teams into disaster areas to physically give debit cards to victims, but the devastation wrought by Katrina precluded this approach. Instead, the financial assistance team, led by Avaya and SBC , constructed a California call center where survivors could register and have funds wire-transferred to a Western Union office. The 400-seat call center was created in one week and handled a large call volume daily.

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