Preservation 2008 Hurricane Survey Summary
In early 2009, LYRASIS surveyed over 2300 members to assess their preparedness and response during the 2008 hurricane season. We received over 290 responses (around 12%) from members in ten southeastern states.
Most respondents indicated that they felt prepared or very prepared for hurricanes or tropical storms, and a majority felt as prepared – or more prepared – for hurricanes in 2008 than in previous years. A majority of respondents correlate readiness with either training or supplies, and many suggest that support from their administration and/or dedicated time for learning is an important factor.
When it comes to disaster information and assistance, it's clear that disaster response is first and foremost local: local emergency responders, FEMA and Red Cross ranked very high on the list of services sought. However, LYRASIS services came out near the top of the list, and most respondents indicated that they would turn to LYRASIS first for training, followed by local government services. Unfortunately, a majority of respondents indicated doubtfulness about seeking training in the next 12 months, though this may be due to economic hardship.
We asked several questions about communication during an evacuation. Most respondents seem to use traditional methods to communicate their institution's closing (institution's Web site, local news outlets, or answering machine/service). For communicating with coworkers during an evacuation or closing, traditional communication methods (phone tree, phone/text messaging and personal e-mail) prevail. Keeping track of emergency contacts seems to happen in a variety of ways, most of them local (numbers by the phone, e-mail or intranet, a wallet card), with fewer respondents seeming to take advantage of non-institutional services such as dPlan or personal online address books (e.g. Gmail).
The survey gave us an opportunity to inform members about our own disaster services, such as our list of disaster response volunteers (most respondents had not heard of this service, but most also said they would find it useful) and our disaster wiki (which may be used to post institutional closings or personal contact information during an evacuation). LYRASIS staff also provide 24/7 disaster assistance by phone or via an online form. (See http://www.lyrasis.org/disaster for more information.)
To view the complete results from our 2008 Hurricane Season Survey, please visit this link: http://www.zoomerang.com/Shared/SharedResultsPasswordPage.aspx?ID=L23PQVH98JUL
LYRASIS thanks everyone who responded. The responses will help guide our disaster prevention and response team to best serve our members.
