From The Driver’s Seat: Notes From ALAN’S Executive Director
As Hurricane Lane approaches landfall in Hawaii, ALAN is busy preparing – and we are encouraging our partners to do the same.
With that in mind, we’ve created this Hurricane Lane micro-site. It contains a wide variety of resources to keep you in the loop about everything from Lane’s latest path to how local and regional transportation infrastructure is being impacted. Just as importantly, it will share key details about what ALAN is doing, and how you and other members of the logistics community can help.
We will be updating the site frequently as events unfold, and we encourage you to visit often.
In the meantime, allow us to share four pre-storm takeaways that we feel are especially essential for you and your organizations to be aware of.
1. Don’t put your head in the sand. Make personal safety a priority.
If you or your business facilities are located anywhere near Lane’s path, be sure to monitor the Central Pacific Hurricane Center and your local National Weather Service forecast for real-time details. Please, don’t ignore any warnings that pertain to you or your personnel. Lane is expected to be a major hurricane that could produce strong winds, heavy rains, and damaging surf.
2. Get the latest detailed information about storm-related road closures, facility closures and more by clicking on the -Info- tab of our micro-site.
It should tell you most of what you need to know. Should you need additional information about any of these things, please contact us at ops@ALANAid.org. Time permitting, we will do our best to work with our emergency partners to get you an answer.
3. If your business handles critical commodities such as food, pharma or hydration in the impacted area, it’s important to let the right people know as soon as possible.
Information on supply chain disruption is often essential for emergency management decision-makers to have as they put recovery plans in place. So if any of your area facilities or delivery services could be closed as a result of the storm, contact us at ops@ALANAid.org to discuss how and where that information can be securely communicated. We’ll also want to include you in our supply chain situational awareness calls so that you have the information you need to get your business back online quickly.
4. ALAN is in touch with the Hawaii Voluntary Organizations Active in Disaster and the Hawaii Emergency Management Agency to capture any logistics needs. These needs will be posted under the relevant tab on the micro-site.
We maintain relationships with emergency management and non-profit partners throughout the year so that we can rapidly capture these needs. Although there are no “open” requests for support at the moment, this situation could quickly change as Lane’s story unfolds. In fact, in previous years, most of our requests have come several days or weeks after hurricanes have hit. So stay tuned, and stay ready – because as requests for transportation, warehousing, volunteers and material handling equipment come in, we will post them promptly.
On a final note, please know that we will be actively monitoring this storm and periodically e-mailing you with updates; and should circumstances merit, we will host a coordination conference call that you will be invited to attend.
We will also be sharing important messaging about this storm via Twitter, Facebook and LinkedIn , so “follow,” “like” or “join us” as appropriate.
As always, all of us at ALAN are hoping that most of these precautions will prove to be unnecessary and that any damage will be minimal. At the same time we are grateful for the many good people like you who stand ready to help.
Thank you for supporting us and those we serve, and please join us in holding good thoughts for the people of Hawaii in the days ahead.
Kathy Fulton
Executive Director
