Subject: [NEXTEL-1] ENHANCING NEW YORK CITY’S EMERGENCY PREPAREDNESS EMERGENCY RESPONSE TASK FORCE

From: [email-masked]
Date: Wed, 29 Oct 2003 20:30:03 -0500

ENHANCING NEW YORK CITY’S
                                  EMERGENCY PREPAREDNESS
                          A REPORT TO MAYOR MICHAEL R. BLOOMBERG
                                     PREPARED BY THE
                                      NEW YORK CITY
                              EMERGENCY RESPONSE TASK FORCE
                                  ANDREW ALPER, CO-CHAIR
                       PRESIDENT, ECONOMIC DEVELOPMENT CORPORATION
                               SUSAN L. KUPFERMAN, CO-CHAIR
                          DIRECTOR, MAYOR’S OFFICE OF OPERATIONS
                                     OCTOBER 28, 2003

EXECUTIVE SUMMARY

New York City and its citizens rose to the extraordinary challenges presented by the
August 14, 2003
power outage and, as a result, have a lot of which to be proud. Police officers,
firefighters, emergency
management personnel and health professionals worked tirelessly to get the City safely
through the crisis.
Their efforts ranged from helping to evacuate hundreds of thousands of individuals from
pitch-black
subway stations and in-service trains, to responding to a six-fold increase in serious
fires and three times
as many medical emergencies and 911 calls. Residents assisted coworkers and neighbors,
volunteered to
direct traffic at busy intersections, and remained calm and orderly. Notably, the Overall
Crime Index was
lower than the comparable period for the previous year. Many businesses continued to
operate, and the
financial markets were able to open. Because of these efforts, the City was able to limit
serious injury
and damage.

Despite the City’s successes, it is important to learn from the experience and find ways
to improve current
practices. The City was fortunate this time in that the outage was of limited duration and
occurred during
daylight and at the end of the workweek, providing a weekend to restore City and business
systems; the
weather was good; many New Yorkers were vacationing out-of-town; schools were closed; and
there was
no mass trauma. Another event could pose significantly greater challenges.

Accordingly, on the Monday following the blackout, Mayor Michael R. Bloomberg directed
Andrew
Alper, President of the New York City Economic Development Corporation, and Susan
Kupferman,
Director of the Mayor’s Office of Operations, to co-chair the Emergency Response Task
Force to review
the City’s response to the outage and to make recommendations on how the City can be even
better
prepared in times of emergency. In order to ensure an independent review, the Task Force
members were
drawn largely from outside the Administration. The members, who included representatives
from the
private and non-public sectors and City officials, had a wide array of experience and
expertise.

The Task Force initiated its effort by contacting every City agency in order to gauge the
scope of the
City’s response, to garner feedback on what went right and wrong at individual agencies,
and to elicit
observations about the City’s overall response. Despite time constraints, the Task Force
conducted
extensive outreach to the public, private and non-profit sectors, including to other
states and
municipalities, educational institutions, private industry groups, relief organizations,
transportation
providers and organizations, advocacy groups and academia. In addition, the Task Force
conducted a
public outreach survey that appeared on the City’s website in English and Spanish and was
available
through the 311 Citizen Service Center. Over 3,700 responses were received.

The Task Force examined the impacts of the outage and resulting issues in six broad areas
outlined by
Mayor Bloomberg: Emergency Response; Business Continuity; The City as Employer;
Communications;
Transportation; and Public Health, Safety and Preparedness. The assessment resulted in
thirty-five
recommendations. Because every emergency event is unique and often requires
moment-by-moment
decision-making, the Task Force recommendations endorse flexible protocols that encourage
cooperation
between the public and private sectors and leverage both public and private resources.
Several of the recommendations focus on strengthening communications with City employees,
the public
and the business community, and among City agencies. A number of others address the
effective
deployment of essential and other public and private sector employees during an emergency.
Specific
recommendations also address the needs of the City’s most vulnerable populations. Given
the tight
timeframe for the report, many are recommendations for further study within particular
areas. Many City
agencies have already begun to study the issues identified by the Task Force and to
develop a number of
the recommendations. The recommendations are summarized in the matrix below:

Full Report: http://www.nyc.gov/html/om/pdf/em_task_force_final_10_28_03.pdf