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By: Sudhir K Sinha, Ph.D., Gina Pineda, M.S., and Lauren G. Aicklen, B.S.  
Issue: August/September 2007

When leaving work on Friday, August 25, 2005, no ReliaGene employee could have imagined the tribulations they would be put through in the coming months and how their lives would be changed forever.

On Friday, August 26, 2005, the last working day before Hurricane Katrina’s August 29th landfall, the hurricane’s projected track was east of the city and evacuation in New Orleans and its surrounding areas was voluntary. On that Friday, employees who had made the decision to evacuate left believing they would be back to work at the latest on Wednesday of the following week. ReliaGene has a Saturday shift, and most of the Saturday shift lab employees came to work on August 27, 2005. All of Relia-Gene’s upper management was traveling at the time. The President/Lab Director was in China attending a conference. However, we had all gone through this routine before. You pack up, evacuate for a couple of days, and return to work shortly thereafter. Nobody realized on that Friday what we were up against. Nobody gave it a second thought. Nobody imagined the devastation they were about to experience.

On Saturday, August 27, 2005, the National Weather Service changed Katrina’s path slightly to the west, moving it closer to New Orleans and the evacuation order became mandatory for all residents of New Orleans and surrounding parishes. ReliaGene made the final decision of official closure Saturday morning. Preparations were underway to secure all equipment, evidence, and documentation. How did ReliaGene survive this disaster unscathed?

PREPARATION AND A LITTLE BIT OF LUCK
In 1995, five years after its inception, ReliaGene moved to its current location in the Harahan/River Ridge suburb of New Orleans (Figure 1). In choosing this new location, a most important consideration was to find high ground. The chosen location, approximately 10 miles west of downtown New Orleans, was also a short drive from the airport, and more importantly, was seven feet above sea level. Company founders did not know it at the time, but this consideration proved essential for surviving Hurricane Katrina.

ReliaGene’s computer servers are the lifeblood of the business. Therefore, computer server protection was accomplished by separation and redundancy. In addition to the local server, a set of servers, including backup of all data, email and web servers are located offsite in Atlanta, GA. The servers in Atlanta and New Orleans are duplicates. In addition, important company records (e.g. insurance, contracts, personnel info, etc.) are also duplicated and stored offsite.

Business interruption insurance had been in place at ReliaGene since 1996. ReliaGene also had an evacuation plan in place and a lot of practice successfully carrying it out many times over the years. Execution of this plan was vital. All employees knew their roles in the evacuation plan and resumption of the business plan. However, with upper management out of town, many things did not go as planned, and flexibility played a key role. ReliaGene had to be ready for anything, and to adjust plans as circumstances dictated.

Luck also played a role. Although initially forecasted as a Category 5 storm, Katrina had weakened to a Category 4 at first landfall in Plaquemines Parish, and a Category 3 at second landfall on the Louisiana/Mississippi border. This placed New Orleans slightly west of Katrina’s track, where the less damaging winds would hit. Though Katrina missed the city of New Orleans, the storm surge caused levee breaches and precipitated the worst engineering disaster in U.S. history. By August 31, 2005, eighty percent (80%) of the New Orleans area was flooded due to breaches, with some parts under 15 feet of water. However, all levee breaches were far from ReliaGene’s headquarters; therefore, flooding was not an issue. After landfall, the highly dangerous areas of the city remained closed to the public for two weeks. Looting became a major problem. Being a private company not directly affiliated with law enforcement, Relia-Gene staff was left to find a way to come into its headquarters to assess the extent of the damage. But we also had friends in high places and obtained an early escort to the lab by officials of the Louisiana Department of Justice State Attorney General’s office.

LESSONS LEARNED
The most important lesson learned from ReliaGene’s experience is that communication is the key. Relia-Gene’s original plan was to stay in touch via cell phone. However, both cell phones and land lines were not working. The only means of communication was via company email. Within the first week after the storm, an easily accessible list of employee contact information was prepared from the information garnered via email communication. This list included employees’ personal email addresses and land line phone numbers where they could be reached. The schedules of all traveling employees – including hotel information – were compiled. Yahoo calendar is a good resource for this compilation of employee schedules. The final list compiled was the phone and email contacts of all ReliaGene major clients, vendors, and contractors.

Major media sensationalism is to be ignored. News reports from CNN, Fox News, etc. were terribly overblown and sought the worst “stories.” Local network affiliates stayed on the air from Baton Rouge and Mobile, and provided more balanced, accurate, and pertinent news throughout the crisis. The problem is that perception is reality to the public. Many of our customers thought we had been destroyed or seriously damaged. Once again, good communication set up with staff and clients/agencies was the key.

One of the first things ReliaGene did after the storm was to post on its website a message board keeping employees and clients informed. We contacted our major clients and honestly explained the situation, the plans to address the situation, and their personal concerns. ADT security system monitors reported no breaches of security and the National Guard set up a post at the Hampton Inn one block away from ReliaGene’s headquarters. Therefore, looting at our facility was not a concern. Two days after the storm, our sales and customer service teams emailed all of our major clients. Two days after the storm, Houston was chosen as a meeting place because many key employees had evacuated there. The remaining members of upper management immediately traveled to Houston for a first planning meeting. Seeing familiar faces in a time of such uncertainty was a relief to many employees. At this meeting, ReliaGene re-grouped and began the arduous process of putting together a come-back plan. One week after the storm we posted pictures of our undamaged facility on our website. Before a satellite office was established, we set up a communications hub at one of our salesman’s parents’ home in Houma, LA. This phone number was communicated to the clients.

Taking care of your employees is of utmost importance. Two weeks’ salary was paid to all employees during the time the lab was completely isolated. Full salary was paid to employees who were stranded out of town, if they returned. ReliaGene immediately began networking with friends and business associates to secure rental housing for displaced employees. We communicated to all employees the plan for recovery, relocation, and resumption of business.

Another important lesson learned was to apply for relief early and often. Seven days after Katrina, authorities allowed us to return for a short period to Jefferson Parish and to the lab. All important company files were retrieved and shipped to senior management. Applications for loss of business insurance, FEMA relief funds (business and individual), SBA assistance, and personal insurance claims were initiated. Although not much help was received from FEMA or the SBA, the process helped to assess the damage and needs and to obtain temporary housing.

Having a plan for the very worst is also important. From China, ReliaGene’s President/Lab Director negotiated temporary office space in the Biotech Incubator at LSU in Baton Rouge, LA. This location was close enough to drive to, yet far enough from devastated regions for shipping of samples. This temporary facility provided a working telephone land line, office space, and a physical address for the company. Most importantly, tracking, delivery, and receipt of samples proceeded without interruption. ReliaGene normally receives approximately 100 samples daily from various paternity draw sites and approximately 50 samples daily from various forensic agencies. Having a temporary facility 50 miles away from our headquarters allowed us to immediately re-route all courier shipments to this temporary office space. A plan for the continued shipment of samples to this new, secure facility was implemented to maintain control of the samples and the ability to process them for our customers. Many companies offered their services at cost. ReliaGene chose a partner to run paternity samples until our lab was fully operational. Our customers were given the option to send their samples out to this partner or to wait for our facility to re-open. The location of the temporary facility and a working computer system allowed ReliaGene to have no loss of samples.

Returning to normal functional capabilities as soon as possible was ReliaGene’s main concern. The initial assessment established that the building was in good working condition. Therefore, two weeks after the storm, as soon as utilities were fully restored, work was initially resumed at ReliaGene headquarters with a skeleton staff. Preparations to resume testing and customer service operations were underway. Concordance studies were run on the 3100s, supplies and reagents were ordered, and communication with clients was maintained. We did as much as we could do, even if it was very little at first, and our customers and the community appreciated the effort. This also provided our employees a job to return to, and it eased worries. ReliaGene then set about the task of generating a realistic scale-up plan with measurable goals and careful allocation of resources.

The scale-up plan was communicated to our customers in an individualized and customized manner. We explained how we planned to scale up and catch up on each customer’s projects. The information was disseminated via emails, on our web-site, and via phone calls. We tried to remain honest and realistic, as we did not want to over-promise and not meet the goals. Many of our customers understood, and Katrina led to zero loss of clients for ReliaGene.

CONCEPTS OF EMERGENCY MANAGEMENT
Regardless of the cause of most disasters, the impact is similar: disasters invariably lead to functional or operational disruptions. Effective preparedness is hierarchical and everyday preparedness is the best protection against extraordinary events. Training of staff can be accomplished by sequential exercises that build on each other. The basic concept relies on the fact that it is not a matter of “if” disaster will occur, but “when” it will occur. The concept of emergency management addresses three aspects: operations, emergency services, and consequence management (Figure 2).

Disaster-related responsibility should be assigned to positions, not persons. The best responders perform similar duties in a disaster as they do everyday. For example, the duty of evidence protection should be assigned to the evidence custodians, as this is part of their everyday job duties. Keep in mind that during a response in the immediate aftermath of an event, not all issues can be addressed. The incident management (command) system is most effective to coordinate the response. Prevent over-extension of responsibility in a disaster response. During the recovery in the long-term aftermath, multiple activities need to be accomplished: plan and pre-designate to reduce stress.

The plan must also include emergency services. Issues to address should include how much back-up power is needed. The plan should designate a location for a follow-up meeting of upper management and department heads immediately following an event. The location should be far enough away from the current facility to be safe but close enough to be a short drive. In addition, how will the evidence be protected? Your facility may retain both long-term adjudicated cases evidence as well as current case evidence. These should be separated and addressed appropriately. Also, upon notification of an impending emergency, if notification is possible, the plan must contain transportation of critical equipment and/or reagents to a safe location to minimize post-event disruptions.

Consequence management must be systematically thought out and planned. The steps to take initially are as follows. Establish an advisory committee. This committee should include members of each department, including all department heads. Each department should conduct a vulnerability assessment. Determine which areas are most at risk by identifying hazards. Identify causes of disruptions, such as bad weather, flood, tornado, fire, snowstorm, bio-terrorism, earthquake, etc., and how each would affect the facility and personnel. Identify resources that minimize disruptions during a disaster. This may involve revisiting insurance policies. ReliaGene’s losses were minimized by having business interruption insurance. Obtain an estimate of the cost of disasters and have a budget set aside for this purpose; an emergency fund. This loss may include employee salaries, loss of revenue, loss of equipment and reagents, and the cost of the recovery plan. Construct potential disaster scenarios and discuss and communicate these with the staff on an on-going basis. A disaster preparedness plan is not something to be drafted and left alone. The plan needs to be re-evaluated at least annually to address any new concerns. When the 2006 hurricane season began, ReliaGene implemented a hurricane preparedness drill. This process discovered areas that were unaddressed and allowed the staff to become comfortable with the actions and responsibilities assigned to them.

OUTLINE FOR DISASTER PREPAREDNESS AND CHECKLIST FOR EMERGENCY PREPARATIONS
In today's world of terrorism, pandemic flu possibilities, and weather-related disasters, all agencies need to be prepared for such an event. Because we are all vulnerable to a disaster, every agency must have a disaster preparedness and response document which establishes the procedures to follow for adequate preparedness in the event of an emergency and minimizes disruption of work, personnel, and damage to facilities, equipment, records, and products. This document should define authority, lines of communication, and specific responsibilities which will be implemented upon notification of an impending or actual emergency. The document must address basic preparedness, people, evidence, laboratory equipment, operations, and mitigation and improvement of the plan. The following is an outline of policies that must be in place before, during, and after an event.

1. Decision making regarding evacuation and official closure of facility
2. Employee protection
3. Disaster preparedness for facility, samples, data, equipment, and computers
4. Communications before, during, and after the event
5. Alternate work location plan
6. Recovery
7. Catastrophic disaster plans and procedures

CONCLUSION
The following points summarize ReliaGene’s experiences and lessons learned from Hurricane Katrina:

• Plan ahead
• Be ready for anything
• Make your own luck
• Learn from your mistakes
• Take care of your employees
• Be honest and in constant communication with your clients/agencies
• Persevere and be grateful

ReliaGene Technologies would like to thank the following individuals and agencies without whom we could not have survived the costliest and one of the deadliest natural disasters in U.S. history (Figure 3); Louisiana State University, Louisiana State Police, Louisiana DOJ Attorney General’s Office, Jefferson Parish officials, FEMA, Luther and Necia Kelly, our insurance companies, companies in the forensics and paternity communities, most importantly, all of ReliaGene’s employees and clients.

Additional Resources

• Homeland Security: www.ready.gov
• American Red Cross: www.redcross.org/services/disaster and www.prepare.org
• FEMA: www.fema.gov/areyouready
• Disaster Recovery Institute International – Washington, D.C.: www.drii.org
• The Business Continuity Institute: http://www.thebci.org/
• Disaster Recovery Planning – 3rd edition, J.W. Toigo, Prentice Hall, 2003

Sudhir K. Sinha, Ph.D. is the co-founder and Laboratory Director of ReliaGene Technologies, an international leader in DNA testing. With over 36 years’ experience in chemical and biochemical research and management, Dr. Sinha is well recognized in the international scientific community, authoring numerous research papers, holding various patents, and having presented his work at many international conferences. He is currently a Forensic Quality Services board member and a member of Louisiana State University’s Center for BioModular Microsystems Industrial Advisory Board. Dr. Sinha can be reached at ssinha@reliagne.com

Gina M. Pineda, M.S. is the Assistant Director and Technical Leader for Reliagene Technologies. She received her Master of Science degree in Pathology with a concentration in forensic DNA from the Louisiana State University Health Sciences Center in New Orleans. As a court qualified expert in Molecular Biology and DNA analysis, Ms. Pineda has testified over 100 times in both criminal and civil courts in 18 states in the U.S.A. as well as in several jurisdictions in Canada. Ms. Pineda can be reached at gpineda@reliagene.com

Lauren G. Aicklen is responsible for all Human Resources functions at ReliaGene Technologies, Inc. as well as Safety Officer. Ms. Aicklen has garnered extensive experience in recruitment, evaluation, and management of performance, and managing resources in an effective, fair, legal, and consistent manner. She can be reached at lguidry@reliagene.com.

ReliaGene Technologies, Inc. 5525 Mounes St. New Orleans, LA 70123, www.reliagene.com