NEWS : north america,
August 2010

Get ready for Earl
As Hurricane Earl approaches, FEMA urges east coast businesses to be prepared.
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•Date: 31st August 2010 • Region: US •Type: Article •Topic: 2010 hurricane season
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Five years later – how New Orleans flood risk has changed since Hurricane Katrina
Significant investments have been made in levees over the last five years; however, flood threat continues to rise as the city sinks and sea levels rise.
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•Date: 31st August 2010 • Region: US •Type: Article •Topic: DR general
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Atlantic Hurricane Season steps up a gear
Forecasters tracking Hurricane Danielle; and second hurricane likely to follow in its wake.
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•Date: 25th August 2010 • Region: US •Type: Article •Topic: 2010 hurricane season
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US public health agencies get disaster preparedness funding
Almost $700 million available for all-hazards state and local public health preparedness and response.
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•Date: 24th August 2010 • Region: US •Type: Article •Topic: Emergency planning
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Five years after Hurricane Katrina and Gulf Coast building codes are still inadequate
According to an IBHS special report.
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•Date: 20th August 2010 • Region: US •Type: Article •Topic: BC facilities
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One of the main topics at the Ninth ANSI-HSSP Plenary will be crisis management
November 9-10, 2010, in Arlington, VA.
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•Date: 20th August 2010 • Region: US/World •Type: Article •Topic: Events
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New PAETEC Data Center supports critical IT assets
PAETEC has officially opened an expansive, high-tech data center in Andover, MA, approximately 24 miles north of Boston. This new flagship center will help customers maintain their critical data, server operating applications, network, and communications assets. It also represents a major step forward for the company towards supporting cloud computing. The center not only serves companies in New England, but those nationwide with a need for geographic redundancy or a presence on the East Coast for reduced latency. The two-story, 92,700 square feet facility includes nearly an acre of raised floor space available for customers to collocate their servers, routers, and other communication equipment. More details.
•Date: 20th August 2010 • Region: US •Type: Briefing •Topic: IT continuity
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Classic business continuity mistake at Central Michigan University
Central Michigan University’s main computer system went down on August 16 after heavy rain flooding the basement in which the IBM mainframe computer is housed. A university spokesman said that technicians powered down the mainframe, removed damaged components and replaced them, then tried to restore the operations: but the system wouldn’t respond. An IBM expert was on the scene August 18, trying to diagnose and solve the problem. Read the full story.
•Date: 20th August 2010 • Region: US •Type: Briefing •Topic: IT continuity
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US major disaster declarations
Illinois
Federal disaster aid has been made available for the State of Illinois to supplement state and local recovery efforts in the area struck by severe storms and flooding during the period of July 22 to August 7, 2010. Gregory W. Eaton has been named the Federal Coordinating Officer for federal recovery operations in the affected area.
Missouri
Federal disaster aid has been made available for Missouri and ordered federal aid to supplement state and local recovery efforts in the area struck by severe storms, flooding, and tornadoes during the period of June 12 to July 31, 2010. Joseph M. Girot was named as the Federal Coordinating Officer for federal recovery operations in the affected area.
•Date: 20th August 2010 • Region: US •Type: Briefing •Topic: DR general
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DSM wins State of Florida IT disaster recovery contract
The State of Florida has announced that it has awarded DSM Technology Consultants the state contract for disaster recovery services. DSM will provide state, county and local agencies/entities with a broader, more flexible and cost effective range of disaster recovery services. DSM has one of the largest and safest data center networks in the state of Florida as well as a network of in-state business continuity facilities (500+ seats). www.dsm.net
•Date: 20th August 2010 • Region: US •Type: Briefing •Topic: BC companies
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GAO report finds that US public-private cybersecurity coordination is still lacking
‘Critical Infrastructure Protection: Key Private and Public Cyber Expectations Need to Be Consistently Addressed.’
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•Date: 18th August 2010 • Region: US •Type: Article •Topic: ISM news
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Backup complexity seen as top challenge in managing enterprise data storage: survey
40 percent of respondents acknowledged that their organizations had no satisfactory disaster recovery solution in place.
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•Date: 18th August 2010 • Region: US/World •Type: Article •Topic: IT continuity
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‘Who Wants To Be A Business Continuity Planner?’
NEDRIX Annual Conference will include a quiz based on the Who Wants to be a Millionaire? format. Teams and individuals are invited to enter.
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•Date: 18th August 2010 • Region: US •Type: Article •Topic: Events
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Social media usage during disasters surveyed
Red Cross finds that many people are turning to Facebook and Twitter for immediate disaster information and help.
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•Date: 17th August 2010 • Region: US •Type: Article •Topic: DR general
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Atlantic Hurricane Season: no room for complacency
NOAA still expects active Hurricane Season; La Niña develops.
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•Date: 6th August 2010 • Region: US •Type: Article •Topic: DR general
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ASIS International invites applications to participate in Organizational Resilience Maturity Model development committee
Model will help organizations tailor implementation of the ANSI/ASIS Organizational Resilience Standard to specific business needs.
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•Date: 6th August 2010 • Region: US •Type: Article •Topic: BC general
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‘Piloting Supply Chain Risk Management for Federal Information Systems’
New NIST report released for public comment.
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•Date: 6th August 2010 • Region: US •Type: Article •Topic: BC general
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SunGard announces second quarter 2010 results
SunGard has reported results for the second quarter ended June 30, 2010. For the quarter, revenue was $1.30 billion, down 5 percent year over year, and income from operations was $126 million. Adjusted EBITDA was $354 million, down 1 percent year over year, and adjusted income from operations was $269 million, down 3 percent year over year. Availability Services revenue decreased 3 percent year over year to $365 million in the second quarter. Read the full results announcement.
•Date: 6th August 2010 • Region: US •Type: Briefing •Topic: BC companies
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President declares major disaster for Texas
FEMA has announced that federal aid has been made available for Texas to supplement state and local recovery efforts in the area struck by Hurricane Alex beginning on June 30, 2010, and continuing.
Bradley M. Harris was named as the Federal Coordinating Officer for Federal recovery operations in the affected area.
http://www.fema.gov/news/newsrelease.fema?id=52303
•Date: 4th August 2010 • Region: US •Type: Briefing •Topic: DR general
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Post-flood safety and recovery tips
Useful checklist from the Institute for Business & Home Safety.
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•Date: 30th July 2010 • Region: US/World •Type: Article •Topic: Salvage / restoration
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US major disaster declarations

• President Declares Major Disaster For South Dakota
• President Declares Major Disaster For Iowa
• President Declares Major Disaster for Idaho
• President Declares Major Disaster For Oklahoma

•Date: 30th July 2010 • Region: US •Type: Briefing •Topic: DR general
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Sign up for 2010 National Preparedness Month
September is National Preparedness Month in the US and FEMA is urging organizations to pledge their support.
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•Date: 29th July 2010 • Region: US •Type: Article •Topic: BC general
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