When Disaster Strikes

by David M. Cole

In autumn 1990---12 months after the Loma Prieta earthquake caused the mighty San Francisco Chronicle to appear in a truncated eight-page issue---a northern California newspaper editor told me of his "great need to ad-lib" during disasters.

It is probably this desire to ad-lib---as well as to work against an enemy that doesn't have a deadline---that prevents newspaper executives from planning for the unplanned. Many newspaper executives---usually those far away from the quake-hardened West Coast or the hurricane-blown East and Gulf Coasts---don't think they'll be affected by disaster. They don't think about an errant road crew cutting power or phone lines, a chemical spill on an important transportation artery, or a fire in the pressroom. These too require some quick ad-libbing to get the paper out.

Ad-libbing will only get you so far, though. Disaster-planning consultants say that those companies that have developed a written disaster response plan---with semi-annual reviews---are the companies most likely to emerge from a catastrophe relatively unscathed.

You don't need to spend huge sums of money, but you do need to make a newspaper-wide commitment to disaster planning and response. Here are some pointers for developing a skeleton disaster response plan:

Reciprocal agreements: If you do not already have agreements with neighboring papers to handle pre-press and press work for you, make the approach today. You need to have information about the mechanical requirements of your neighbors (and they, yours).
Create a folder of your commonly used logos and sigs to be stored in your neighbor's back shop. Send an expedition to the neighboring paper to learn something of the editorial front-end or how the Macintosh network is configured.
Electricity back-up: Black-outs are a common problem. Determine your minimum editorial and pre-press electrical requirements and buy enough gas- or diesel-powered generators (and enough fuel) to at least get page negatives made during a power outage. You can then take the negatives to the paper with which you have that reciprocal agreement.
Telephones: If you have a PBX or Centrex telephone system, determine which phones at your newspaper are not connected to those systems and label them "disaster phones." If you have phone equipment on premises, include it when buying electrical generators. During natural disasters, cellular phones may work when land lines don't. A good two-way radio system is invaluable and may run off car batteries. And when the phone company restores a disabled system, it always brings back pay phones first, so if you only have one or two in the building, consider getting more.
Rosters: You will need a roster of all employees, along with their skill sets and resources. Who owns a motorcycle (useful in navigating closed roads)? Who has an electrical generator? Who is a ham radio operator? What you most want are people's home phone numbers. You need to update this roster on a quarterly basis, and executives need to keep paper copies at home, since disasters have a habit of happening nights and weekends. A two-year-old roster on the office computer is of little help.

And remember: As newspapers become technically more complex, a disaster plan may mean the difference between delivering a normal paper, an eight-page issue---or no issue at all.

Consultant David M. Cole quit the newspaper business 18 days before the Loma Prieta quake. His phone is (415) 673-2424; email is cole@plink.geis.com.