Commentary & Opinion

It’s a distressing feeling when you’re in the middle of an unfolding disaster, and suddenly it hits you -- your plans and resources are being overwhelmed by the event. At this point or soon thereafter, you’ll likely ask yourself a series of questions: How and when will we re-establish services for customers and employees? What will this disaster cost us in terms of revenue, reputation and recovery expenses? How can we avoid being in this position again?

The word tornado came from the Spanish word "tronada" which means a thunderstorm. Also known as a twister, a tornado is a violent spiral-shaped storm with a rapidly rotating column of air rising upward, forming a vortex. The vortex has relatively low pressure at the center and is shaped like a funnel.

From the time it capsized at a refinery dock in Texas City, the listing barge -- loaded with 235,000 gallons of sulfuric acid -- began seeping its toxic, corrosive load into the 30-foot-deep waterway.

The water mixing with sulfuric acid inside the hull had begun to corrode the steel. This process reduced the barge’s structural integrity and created reactions inside the sealed compartment that generated a cloud of highly-flammable, highly-pressurized hydrogen gas -- just one spark away from a calamitous blast.

It was time for new plan.

Most people who are involved in emergency management are aware of the four primary phases of emergency management: prevention/mitigation, preparedness, response and recovery.

Recovery includes short-term measures taken to restore essential functions and systems, as well as longer-term activities intended to facilitate a return to pre-emergency conditions, or ideally to improve conditions through mitigation measures. I will focus on early recovery; the short-term phase.