IceStorm 98 Study

H. RESOURCES

1. "Remember that it takes time to bring resources to bear on an emergency situation”.

   Gary Bennett, Mayor City of Kingston

2. “It [the Ice Storm] taught me the next time there’s a disaster you should call out all the resources and put people on stand by right from the start because you can always scale back but it’s hard to build up.”

   Mike Stoneman, Canadian Red Cross Society, Kingston and District Branch

3. It is important to do reconnaissance early to determine what the damage is and estimate the supplies that will be required. Try to use helicopters to survey the damage.
4. Know what resources you have and where they are.
5. Determine priorities for resources (during the Ice Storm this was critical for generators). It was easier for outsiders to set priorities than for workers who knew people personally.
6. Find out what supplies, equipment and people (volunteers) are coming so you can prepare ahead of time for their arrival.
7. Resources were obtained through personal contacts (back door) and through EMO and other head quarters/head offices (front door). If resources are obtained through the back door let emergency officials know what you have.
8. Twinning (matching a municipality inside the emergency area with one outside the emergency area) worked well for obtaining resources. New contacts between municipalities were made and new work practices learned.
9. Co-ordinating resources between municipalities would have been helpful.
10. Assign a local person to each out of town crew and give that person the job of keeping track of the personnel and equipment.
11. When sending crews to an emergency area send supervisors and maintenance people as well.
12. Be prepared to organize, house and feed out of town crews.
13. It is important to liaise with head offices because they have good connections for securing resources.
14. Suppliers were flexible during the emergency and remained open 24 hours a day.
15. During the Ice Storm emergency, some of the resources required were: facilities for storing vaccines; back-up pharmacies for filling prescriptions; portable stop signs for intersections where the traffic signals were not working; a database so doctors could be contacted; and insurance for equipment such as generators which people were willing to loan.
16. Not only were resources such as generators and chainsaws required but also people to operate and maintain them.
17. Think about how you will turn the faucet off so you do not end up with a lot of extra supplies you do not need.
18. Be prepared to deal with donated food.
19. Be prepared to help other municipalities in future emergencies.