An Earthquake and Hurricane Irene In Philly! How Well Did Your Organization Survive These Events?

September 20, 2011 :: Shirely Ross, Information Systems and Computing

Penn’s Mission Continuity Program not only ensures Penn copes well with emergencies; it also ensures the University can continue critical operations afterwards. The earthquake that rumbled across Penn’s campus and Hurricane Irene’s high winds and torrential rains gave Penn’s Schools and Centers real-time opportunities to see how their Mission Continuity plans held up.

As part of Penn’s Mission Continuity Program, Schools and Centers have been developing mission continuity plans during the past year and recording them online in a specially configured database supported by ISC. When all organizations have these plans in place, the entire University benefits. When disaster strikes, these plans provide the information necessary to help Schools and Centers resume their operations as quickly as possible, restoring services to students and continuing the mission of teaching and of creating new knowledge through research. Organizations may wish to conduct a post-incident analysis of how well they dealt with the recent earthquake and hurricane to determine what worked especially well and what might be done differently. On the Mission Continuity website is a form to use to structure this exercise. To learn more about the Mission Continuity Program, check out the website. The site provides guidance on creating a mission continuity plan, links to the tools the University provides for mission continuity planning, information on where to get help, and details about the overall Mission Continuity Program. If you have questions or want more information, please send an email to askmc@lists.upenn.edu