Agencies | Disaster Rally

The IT Disaster Recovery Plan: Everything You Need to Know

You may have heard of business recovery or business continuity plans, or of the IT disaster recovery plan as mandatory forms of planning ahead for businesses everywhere. As more companies, businesses and institutions are becoming more and more reliant on information technology (IT) systems and the virtual environment, this reliance makes them both more potent and more vulnerable. While computer use has dramatically enhanced the productivity of businesses everywhere, especially as computers themselves have become more and more powerful over the years, this reliance on IT systems also means that minor disasters can lead to major halts in activity. Lack of access to IT systems, or, even more dramatically, a permanent loss of data due to a disruptive event can mean the termination of all activity for many businesses, organizations and institutions alike.

That is why procedures and back-up plans such as the Business Continuity Plan (BCP) and the IT Disaster Recovery Plan (DRP) are crucial forms of insurance for any organization, company or business, no matter how large or small. We will walk you through everything you need to know about the difference between a BCP and a DRP, as well as how to start planning in order to outline the recovery plans your company should have and develop them in no time.

1. What Exactly Is an IT Disaster Recovery Plan and Business Continuity in General?

Many people who are just starting to hear of an IT disaster recovery plan or backup procedures for disaster recovery think all the terms involved are more or less referring to the same thing. In order to help your understanding of these terms and the difference between them better, first we should define them. According to its official definition, a Business Continuity Plan is the wider aspect of this type of insuring process, containing all the backup plans for the management and restoration of the types of activity necessary for the functioning of a business or organization, from manufacturing to quality control and so on. These components may include a Business Resumption Plan, an Incident Management Plan and so on; in short, everything which the organization may need for its post-disaster reconstruction and the resuming of its activity.

For example, a hospital will of course rely on computer systems for managing their patient database and documentation, but they will also need to manage the disruptive event, get supplies delivered to vulnerable patients in due time, restore the entire area’s security and so on. All institutions and organizations dealing with human lives (basically any company whose employees work in an office) will have first and foremost the concern and responsibility of dealing with their living assets (the human resources) and only then handle the IT system and activate its disaster contingency management plan, the network recovery protocol and so on.

This means that out of all the aspects of a BCP, the IT Disaster Recovery Plan is only a small part of the entire planning involved, and refers strictly to the recovery of technology, as opposed to the whole of BCP who deals with the recovery of business operations. Some online resources propose a debate regarding the use of a BCP vs. the use of an IT disaster recovery plan, but it is an issue falsely put, since the latter is just a smaller part of the first.

2. Developing an IT Disaster Recovery Plan Template for Your (Small) Business

According to official data provided by FEMA and by the Disaster Recovery Institute, the businesses and organizations which have developed a proper IT Disaster Recovery Plan have survived unfortunate events much easier than the ones who postponed it. These disasters which can strike may not even be news-worthy, but prove to be quite fatal to your business, and therefore they prove to fully merit the name of disasters. A natural disruptive event like a small flood or a power strike at precisely the wrong moment can have fatal consequences for your server or servers, for your highly specialized software, or even for your physical technology infrastructure.

Since all businesses and organizations are unique, you need to come up with your own personal plan of insuring your company against the occurrence of disruptive events. A personalized IT Disaster Recovery Plan can be better developed with the help of professionals who offer the recovery service itself, but you can also take a look at various free samples found online in order to get a better idea of how most templates for an IT DRP look like. As far as a good DRP sample goes, we like this template best, but you can find similar examples online, in various formats (Word document or PDF). Don’t worry, all the steps are explained as if for dummies, so going through them will be quite simple.

3. Getting Help from a Disaster Recovery Company

After you get a better idea of what an IT disaster recovery plan is supposed to be, it’s time to start creating it. Your end purpose should be to write a main doc which will then be integrated as part of the company’s policy, and applied to every step of your company’s backup actions. It’s easier to save up on data if you make frequent saves and so on; the same principle applies here, only for the much wider scale and purpose of macro IT disaster recovery. After you finish writing this document which, for the most part, will highlight your company’s priorities and things which are most crucial to protect, you will then show it to the service firm that will handle your disaster recovery and backup.

Usually, such companies provide more than just server backup on their info center and the protection this ensues, but they will explain more in the walkthrough you will schedule. The main vulnerabilities of your IT system and technological operations will be identified, and you will create together a checklist of simple steps for your IT disaster recovery plan. Then, you will probably also proceed with the application of a test that will identify how your system will react in case of a threat, so you can protect it further.

Some suggestions of services you can start looking into are these:

VMWare disaster recovery;
Oracle’s IT disaster recovery plan;
Dilbert disaster recovery;
HIPAA;
ITIL;
SharePoint Disaster Recovery (developed by Microsoft);
NIST;
SQL disaster recovery.

Last, but not least, don’t forget to check out the Department of Homeland Security’s own guide on creating an IT disaster recovery plan.

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Emergency Management and How It Works

To understand emergency management, you need to be aware that a disaster can take place at any given moment, no matter where you live on the globe. Just think about it; a misplaced match can lead to a terrible house fire or an earthquake can leave your community devastated. Even though we can’t avoid them at all times, emergencies can and should be prepared for. This is where emergency management kicks in. You’ll find an emergency management department, county authority or some sort of division in most states, all for a very good reason. Without proper planning, an emergency can result in irreparable damage, with no possible forms of recovery. What you can do to avoid this is learn about emergency management and how it works.

Our guide will walk you through everything you need to know about being prepared for any emergency. You’ll understand why your emergency management plan is crucial, what institute you need to contact for help and even how you can undergo training, programs and online courses to become an emergency manager or get a masters degree in this field. Without further ado, learn what the deal with emergency management is and start rethinking your safety priorities.

Emergency Preparedness

When speaking of emergency management, we have to include emergency preparedness in the equation. It focuses specifically on getting ready for disaster and, frankly, being prepared for the worst. The Homeland Security Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) and the National Incident Management System (NIMS) define the idea of preparedness as a permanent cycle to ensure a fast and safe response in cases of emergencies, with the following key points:

Plan
Organize
Train
Equip
Exercise
Evaluate
Action

To put it simply, you have to be ready at all times, from all points of view, for a tragic emergency that might take place. When planning for an emergency, you must consider the fact that disasters can be manmade or natural. In the former situation, prevention measures tend to guarantee safety more than the latter, where man is not in control. For example, you can avoid the disastrous results of an accidental fire by having an extinguisher and an evacuation plan all set up beforehand.

Emergency Management Cycle

The description of emergency management also goes hand in hand with a specific cycle. Known as the ‘phases’ of emergency management, these four stages can narrow down damages to a minimum. Even more importantly, they can effectively save lives.

Phase 1 – Mitigation

The first step in emergency management is mitigation. To put it in a nutshell, mitigation involves the identification of risks and doing what you can to minimize them from the beginning. This could mean building dams to avoid floods, rebuilding certain structures that are made of weak materials or identifying all the weak points in a building.

Phase 2 – Preparedness

The second phase focuses upon getting prepared for a disaster. What makes it different from mitigation is that it stresses on getting ready for the third phase, response. This phase involves outlining a plan, getting supplies together and running through drills to see if preparedness is adequate.

Phase 3 – Response

Response, the third phase of emergency management, refers to the instant actions that need to be performed when an emergency takes place. The response should unfold according to the preparedness plan, with evacuation and essential operations.

Phase 4 – Recovery

The final phase of emergency management is recovering from the disaster or emergency that took place. It usually involves reconstruction and caring for those affected by the incident. This is the phase where state authorities, international organizations and other certified sources can play a vital role in speeding up recovery.

Emergency Management Director

In addition to learning the basics about emergency management, you can also look into job opportunities or forms of certification in the field. There are various degrees or new certificate programs that can help you reach this goal and become an emergency management director or specialist. The salary for a professional in this area can range anywhere from $33,370 to $116,900, as the BLS informs us.

If you decide to pursue a career in emergency management, you’ll most likely be working for local or state governments, hospitals, universities / schools or in the electric power generation, transmission and distribution industry. The states with the highest employment level are Texas, California, New York (NYC), Virginia and New Jersey (NJ). Even though states like Colorado, Florina, North Carolina, Washington or Indiana don’t have such a high level, you can still find emergency management jobs in these areas.

Emergency Management Organization, Office and Association Examples

Thankfully, there are an abundance of organizations that can help out with emergency management in times of need. These organizations can be national or international and are willing to provide disaster victims with supplies, support and shelter.

One of the most significant organizations for emergency management is FEMA, but also NIMS. All Red Cross branches can be consulted in times of emergency, as well the United Nations for large scales. A few other organizations are the International Association for Disaster Preparedness and Response (DERA), the Center for Excellence in Disaster Management and Humanitarian Assistance (COE) or the Citizen Corps.

It is best to search for emergency management organizations in the city or state that you live in for immediate help.

How to Prepare for Emergencies at Home or Work

Now that we know the fundamental aspects of emergency management, it’s time to conclude with a few ways in which you can prepare from emergencies at home or at the office.

Kits & Supplies – make sure you have plenty of nonperishable food and water stored, as well as basic supplies like batteries and flashlights.
Plan – create a plan that is clear and easy to follow. Make sure that you take all aspects of any emergency into consideration. As an alternative, you can create several plans with specific instructions for different emergencies.
Training – go through the plan several times to see if any aspects need to be upgraded.

Stay safe and always prepare.

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All You Need to Know about Disaster Response Services

When disasters and, generally speaking, disruptive events occur, people respond to the threat and contain it the best they can. The official terms surrounding disaster management (like disaster relief and disaster response) often vary and people confuse them or use them interchangeably, but there is actually a pretty strict delimitation when it comes to all sides of this support process.

Here is a brief overview of how the various sides of disaster management work and intertwine:

Disaster Management – this is the widest aspect, referring to the entire cycle of emergency management;
1. Emergency Planning – this phase refers to identifying risks before the disastrous event even occurs
2. Disaster Response – the second phase of the cycle, comprising immediate assistance services, such as search and rescue, distributing supplies, providing emergency medical care and so on. Also called disaster relief by some.
3. Disaster Recovery – the last phase of disaster management, taking place after the immediate emergencies of the second phase have been dealt with. This phase focuses on making sure the affected lives return to normal as fast as possible.
Business Continuity – this part focuses on disaster recovery for businesses, ensuring that companies affected by disasters can pick up their normal activity as fast as possible and that the temporary disruption doesn’t prove to be the end of the company as well.
1. Disaster Recovery Services – a sub-set of business continuity, this part of a BCP (Business Continuity Plan) focuses mostly on IT system and the protection of virtual protocols and data.
2. Business Contingency Management – a post-disaster set of plans and activities, destined to make businesses more resilient and able to cope with future disruptive events (preparedness training).

Disaster response, therefore, is an emergency stage of activities destined to bring some relief to those affected by a disaster, and is one of the main focuses of humanitarian actions and organizations everywhere.

Disaster Response Jobs and How to Get Involved

If you’re tempted of getting involved more into disaster response activities, first of all we need to congratulate you for your noble intentions, and second of all, to provide you with an overview of how to start. Before looking for opportunities on how to get involved, you need to decide how much time you can dedicate to this: do you want to be involved on and off, as a volunteer, or do you want to make an actual profession out of it?

If you want to get involved as a volunteer, you can do this on a low-key mode, with your local emergency response team (every area has one, so do a quick search and you should be able to get in touch with your local emergency management force in no time). There are also the major international organizations who are always looking for more volunteers to join their operational forces. We will give you more details about what the best humanitarian action organizations are and how to get in touch with them and see what you can contribute with, in the section below.

As for disaster response jobs and careers, this side of the intervention field is also full of opportunities. Since people working in disaster response are basically super-heroes, trained to not only do their job flawlessly, but also do it under considerable time pressure and without all the usual tools and props, serious certification is required. Usually, the certification one needs in order to be a licensed emergency management team member comes from FEMA. This government agency also provides the training required for the major specializations needed. Here are just a few examples:

Medical emergency response staff (nurses and field doctors);
Bomb alert engineers;
Data backup scientists;
Communications officers;
Search and rescue team members (including firefighters);

You can find out more about the training offered by FEMA’s Emergency Management Institute (EMI) here.

A Few Disaster Response Organizations

Humanitarian and disaster relief organizations are active all over the world, and the international ones usually focus more on the countries where the government lacks the resources to provide proper disaster response on its own. Since most acts of disaster response are aimed first and foremost at meeting people’s most basic needs, and therefore a central government that isn’t able to help the people affected by disaster really needs all the help it can get. The most important thing about disaster response, though, is that it’s always an organized and systematic activity, no matter who is the central authority behind the organization (either a national government or an NGO). There can be spontaneous interventions for disaster response, but they are usually on a local neighborhood scale and will either fizz out or become part of a larger scheme.

Without further ado, here are the major disaster response organizations you should know about:

The Red Cross – The Red Cross is an international organization with a strong presence in its U.S. branch, so basically whenever natural disasters have struck us in the past few years (tornados, hurricanes and floods), the Red Cross has provided a huge relief for those affected. Find out more about how you can get involved here.
The United Nations (UN) – Another great international organization that handles very varied types of disaster response and humanitarian work, besides various other responsibilities in diplomacy and so on. The UN also has some pretty high-end emergency management jobs for those of you who already have experience with humanitarian work and emergency relief coordination.
The Catholic Relief Services – One of the most important Christian organizations present in the U.S., the CRS welcomes all kinds of volunteers for their wide array of humanitarian actions, beyond disaster response (donations, doing some hunger relief actions from the charity fund and so on).
The Lutheran Disaster Response (LDS) – The other major Christian organization that provides disaster response nationally and internationally, the LDS welcomes plenty of volunteers and professionals altogether.
World Renew (WD) – One of the most active organizations in the field of disaster response and humanitarian work, WD has a very complex layering of projects and activities in which you can get involved with.

Last, but not least, if you’re willing to try going abroad for a disaster relief work experience, the first step you should make is to read this guide on what skills you need and where to start. Good luck!

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What Is Disaster Recovery and What Can You Do Yourself?

In case of a natural or human-induced disaster striking an area, the fast recovery from the unfortunate event is a priority for everyone. The recovery must optimally be realized with as little human and financial costs possible so that the area can resume its previous state and even be better prepared and less vulnerable to similar future events. So, what is disaster recovery as officially defined and provided by various services and organizations? There are two main sides to this recovery: the humanitarian part, referring to people and communities and which is usually known as disaster relief, and the part focusing on ensuring the survival and continuity of a business, usually known as disaster recovery.

Sometimes, the two terms are used interchangeably, since they aren’t that different in meaning, but for the sake of differentiating between the two types of disaster management services, a great part of the world has started respecting this distinction between disaster relief and disaster recovery. Our present article will focus on clarifying the disaster recovery aspect for businesses, and also, address some FAQs about disaster recovery along the way.

What is Disaster Recovery?

Disaster recovery can be defined as a set of procedures and policies set in place in order to ensure the continuance of infrastructure (and/ or of business activity) in the aftermath of disruptive events. The more the world came to rely on technological infrastructure, the more we started to realize how vulnerable we would be left in case this infrastructure failed, and since the 70s, disaster recovery systems have been specifically created to assist with this issue.

Since disaster recovery focuses first and foremost on ensuring the restoration of IT and technological infrastructure and data, it represents only a subset of the more general business continuity systems. These comprise of a vaster array of policies which ensure other aspects required for an activity to be resumed (finding alternate office space, financial recovery from damages and so on).

As businesses started realizing their huge dependence on IT technologies (and especially since internet speed and real-time response became an integrative part of almost any business), services which offer disaster management and recovery have become more and more popular and needed. So, what is disaster recovery from this point of view, of commercial services marketed and offered to IT-reliant businesses? Usually, all service providers specializing in disaster recovery for businesses offer this:

Full cloud storage and online backup for your business information, data, sensitive data like login details and company track records etc.;
An initial evaluation of the risk your business faces in case of disaster and tips on how to minimize that risk;
A disaster recovery plan to be activated in the wake of a disruptive event, prescribing the client (the business trying to protect itself from disaster) the steps to follow for continued functionality and on to a full recovery;
The availability of limited office space and computer systems to allow the affected business to resume its activity at least partially until their workspace is restored;
A cyber security diagnostic in case the disaster was not caused by a natural event (like an earthquake or a tornado and so on), but by a specific cyber-attack which led to a potentially dangerous breach;
Various service packs offering increasing levels of assistance with the aftermath of the disruptive event.

Disaster Recovery FAQs

1. What Is Disaster Recovery for Businesses Beyond the Backup Service?

Initially, disaster recovery service providers focused mostly on cloud storage backup, but today’s service packs offer much more than that. First, they diagnose the specifics of the business that is trying to protect itself from disaster, then they formulate some options and service packs adapted to suit the needs of that business. This can include everything IT-related, like ensuring a preservation of layers of access according to the company’s hierarchy and so on, but also non-IT services. Such non-IT services can include the provision of office space and minimal infrastructure required for the business to get back into work, even if for the time being the company is still dealing with the aftermath of disaster and its actual office space and work environment and compromised.

2. What Other Aspects of Disaster Recovery Should I Consider as a Business Leader?

You should consider disaster recovery beyond the simple aspects of cloud storage, as well as depending on the specifics of the business you are running. After all, what is disaster recovery if not a tailored approach meant to get your company back in business as soon as possible? A few general ideas useful to all businesses would be these: increasing the security and diminishing the risk of data loss, protecting both your physical and virtual assets with the help of comprehensive insurance, and creating reliable procedures for getting back on track as fast as possible.

3. What Is Disaster Recovery as Business Continuation and What Services Should I Look Into?

As mentioned above, disaster recovery confined to IT and cloud backup is but a small aspect of protecting your company and ensuring your business continuation. This second concept is a more loosely defined set of services and measures, impossible to pin down because the nature of each business can be drastically different and, therefore, the business continuation plan must be adapted to each individual case. There are usually three levels of a sound business continuation plan:

Resilience: the purpose of these measures is to minimize the damage and ensure that the business activity can continue up to a certain point in spite of the disruptive event;
Recovery: the purpose of these procedures is to ensure a fast recovery of the degree of functionality lost in the disaster and bring the activity back to full capacity;
Contingency: Ensuring that the people and the infrastructure of the business become more flexible and able to cope with unforeseen aspects of whatever disruptions and disasters may come. This third layer of measures and procedures is meant first and foremost to deal with the potential inadequacy of the first two (the resilience and recovery plans and measures). To increase the effectiveness of contingency, this part of the business continuation strategy must also include the thorough testing of the other parts of the plan.

What Can You Do Yourself For a Better Disaster Recovery?

First of all, as a business owner or leader you should try to familiarize yourself as much as possible with the actual risks you are facing in case of the various types of disasters which can strike your business. Identify your potential losses and this way you will know exactly what your protection priorities should be. If you’re not sure how to identify security risks yourself, don’t worry: it’s quite common to enlist the services of a disaster recovery consultant in this stage of planning.

The bottom line is to start asking yourself not simply ‘what is disaster recovery?’, but increasingly ‘what should my business recovery plan contain?’ Consultants from the recovery service provider you will hire can only help you with the technical details you may not be aware of, but only you can intimately know the priorities and vital functions of your business, so you are in the end the most qualified planner for your business continuity.

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Top Lutheran Disaster Response Organizations You Should Know About

Lutheran disaster response organizations are actively involved in relief missions around the world as well as in the United States. There are several non-profit Lutheran disaster relief organizations that are qualified and prepared to provide both immediate and long-term aid to survivors of disasters, refugees of war, and people suffering because of hunger or poverty.

Many Lutheran disaster response organizations are constantly striving to collect, organize, and transport essential supplies and aid to those in need. These non-profit organizations are funded by public donations made by both members and the general public. However, volunteers can also help these organizations immensely by offering their services or working on community support projects when help is needed.

List of Lutheran Disaster Response Organizations

Here are some of the top Lutheran disaster response organizations that you should know about if you are interested in supporting disaster relief efforts in the United States and around the world or if you are simply looking for more information concerning these organizations and how they operate.

1. Lutheran World Relief

The Lutheran World Relief organization aims to collaborate with local partners in order to provide lasting solutions to poverty, conduct emergency operations when they are required, and rapidly deploy aid where it is needed. In its efforts to help affected communities recover from emergencies, the Lutheran World Relief organization provides emergency kits containing essentials that survivors need in the immediate aftermath of the crisis. They also offer cash programs that support survivors and an Early Recovery and Livelihoods Rehabilitation program to help people in affected areas get back to work and become self-sufficient again as soon as possible.

As the Lutheran World Relief organization has expanded its efforts to several countries across the world, there is a country office for the organization in each of the countries in which it is active. Thus, an Emergency Preparedness Plan exists in each of these offices, detailing how and when the organization can respond to emergencies. The organization also pre-positions items such as emergency kits and quilts in warehouses that are supported by the United Nations. These U.N. Humanitarian Response Depots allow the organization to quickly ship items to where they are needed once an emergency takes place.

2. The Evangelical Lutheran Church of America

The Evangelical Lutheran Church of America has set up the Lutheran Disaster Response program in order to help the people whose lives have been affected by disasters. The Lutheran Disaster Response is involved in disaster response operations both in the United States and around the world. The faith-based organization collaborates with other disaster response organizations and religious entities both in the United States and in other countries.

The community-oriented disaster response initiative that the Evangelical Lutheran Church of America has created focuses on providing immediate relief as well as long-term support to those affected by a disaster. The organization provides emotional and spiritual support for survivors of the disaster. It coordinates volunteers through its local affiliates and helps communities build their assets in an effort to promote disaster risk-reduction. The Lutheran Disaster Response program aims to not only offer immediate relief, but to also focus on providing long-term recovery efforts in the months or ever years following the disaster.

The Evangelical Lutheran Church of America has also organized a Domestic Disaster Response program that focuses its efforts on providing immediate and long-term aid to U.S. citizens affected by natural disasters such as floods, wildfires, or earthquakes.

In addition to the Lutheran Disaster Response program, the Evangelical Lutheran Church of America is also providing a Lutheran Immigration and Refugee Service. By partnering with Lutheran social ministry organizations and with Lutheran congregations, this service has been welcoming refugees to the United States since 1939, and it has helped more than 379,000 refugees throughout its years of activity.

The Lutheran Immigration and Refugee Service aims to aid people that are caught in conflict areas and that are facing persecution by helping them access resources for basic human needs. The service also advocates for their rights and needs. It is working with foster care programs to help minors affected by war and conflict, and it provides legal assistance to those in need.

3. The Lutheran Church Missouri Synod

The Lutheran Church Missouri Synod in another institution that has organized a Disaster Response initiative offering two major training programs in disaster preparedness. Mercy in Action is a program designed to help congregations train to be prepared in case of a disaster and to respond appropriately should one occur. The Lutheran Early Response Team (LERT) program is focused on training individual Lutheran volunteers in disaster relief and response.

The Lutheran Church Missouri Synod offers financial aid and people resources to help recovery efforts in the months and years following a tragedy. The Disaster Response ministry strives to provide both immediate and long-term support to those suffering because of natural or man-made disasters and can also offer Christian care, counseling, and support for those in need.

4. The Lutheran Social Services of Central Ohio

The Lutheran Social Services of Central Ohio has set up a Disaster Response Services program aimed at providing disaster preparedness training courses and disaster response coordination throughout the state of Ohio and in its surrounding areas. The system created to protect communities against disasters has a 3-step program that is followed in order to ensure that survivors receive the best possible support.

The Disaster Response Services program has three stages: first response, emergency relief, and long-term recovery. The Lutheran Social Services organization provides disaster response coordination of volunteers using the network of Lutheran churches in the area. It also offers coordination of volunteers meant to provide spiritual and emotional care. The organization manages the collection and distribution of just-in-time donations and the functionality of a disaster response database that people can use to find and access additional resources.

The Lutheran Disaster Response Services program coordinates community outreach efforts to help rebuild or refurbish affected homes. The program also organizes the collection, assembly, and distribution of flood buckets, health and personal hygiene kits, and school kits.

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