Onx After Action Report Draft ONX System

MonmouthAfter County Action Office of Emergency Report Management Improvement Plan Commanding Communications A Hurricane Response Tabletop Exercise Southern Region May 11, 2012 After Action Report / Improvement Plan Commanding Communications Exercise

ADMINISTRATIVE HANDLING INSTRUCTIONS

1. The title of this document is The "Commanding Communications - A Hurricane Response Exercise - Southern Region" After Action Report. 2. The information gathered in this AAR/IP is classified as For Official Use Only (FOUO) and should be handled as sensitive information not to be disclosed. This document should be safeguarded, handled, transmitted, and stored in accordance with appropriate security directives. 3. At a minimum, the attached materials will be disseminated only on a need-to-know basis and when unattended, will be stored in a locked container or area offering sufficient protection against theft, compromise, inadvertent access, and unauthorized disclosure. 4. Points of Contact:

County Emergency Management:

Mike Oppegaard Monmouth County Office of Emergency Management (Office) 732-577-5799 (E-Mail) [email protected]

Exercise Director:

Chris Floyd Disaster Resistant Communities Group LLC (Office) 850-241-3565 (E-Mail) [email protected]

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CONTENTS

ADMINISTRATIVE HANDLING INSTRUCTIONS...... 2 CONTENTS...... 3 EXECUTIVE SUMMARY...... 4 SECTION 1: EXERCISE OVERVIEW...... 5 Exercise Details...... 5 Participant Information...... 5 SECTION 2: EXERCISE DESIGN SUMMARY...... 7 Exercise Purpose and Design...... 7 Exercise Objectives, Capabilities and Activities...... 7 Scenario Summary...... 7 SECTION 3: ANALYSIS OF CAPABILITIES...... 8 SECTION 4: CONCLUSION...... 12 APPENDIX A: IMPROVEMENT PLAN...... 13 APPENDIX B: PARTICIPANT FEEDBACK (3 THUMBS UP – 3 THUMBS DOWN). .16 APPENDIX C: ACRONYMS...... 23

EXECUTIVE SUMMARY

Commanding Communications - A Hurricane Response Exercise - Southern Region was designed and facilitated to evaluate player actions against current response plans and capabilities for a hurricane response.

The purpose of this report is to analyze exercise results, identify strengths to be maintained and built upon, identify potential areas for further improvement, and support development of corrective actions.

Incorporated in Section 3: Analysis of Capabilities of this After Action Report is a comprehensive listing of each Target Capability with its associated Major Strengths, Primary Areas for Improvement and Improvement Recommendations

SECTION 1: EXERCISE OVERVIEW

Exercise Details

Commanding Communications - A Hurricane Response Exercise Name: Exercise - Southern Region

Type of Exercise: Tabletop

Exercise Start Date: May 11, 2012

Duration: Three Hours

Location: Freehold New Jersey

Sponsor: Monmouth County Office of Emergency Management

Program: To provide an opportunity for all governmental agencies along with community and faith based organizations in Monmouth County to collaborate during hurricane response activities.

Purpose: The purpose of this exercise was to evaluate player actions against current response plans and capabilities for a hurricane response.

Mission: To exercise communications procedures and protocols within Monmouth County to include:  Activation and notifications.  Collaborative operational planning in the pre-event stage (72 hours before landfall).  Collaborative operational planning in the response stage (72 hours after landfall). The exercise also incorporate the following actions:  Determining evacuation orders.  Disseminating evacuation orders.  Forwarding resource requests to the Monmouth County Office of Emergency Management.  Communicating shelter information (openings, locations, status, etc.) to the general public and the Monmouth County Office of Emergency Management.  Communicating municipal activities to the Monmouth County Office of Emergency Management.

Scenario Type: Hurricane

Participant Information

Participant Organization

American Red Cross

Bradley Beach Borough Office Of Emergency Management

Colts Neck Township Office of Emergency Management

Deal Borough Police Department

Family Promise of Monmouth County

HABcore Inc

Long Branch City Office of Emergency Management

Monmouth County Office of Emergency Management

Neptune City Borough Office of Emergency Management

Neptune Township

New Hope Foundation

Ocean Township Office of Emergency Management

Spring Lake Borough

Spring Lake Heights Borough Office of Emergency Management

The Salvation Army

Wall Township Office of Emergency Management

West Long Branch Borough Police Department

Western Monmouth Utilities Authority

Number of Participants 60

SECTION 2: EXERCISE DESIGN SUMMARY

Exercise Purpose and Design

The purpose of this exercise was to evaluate player actions against current response plans and capabilities for a hurricane response.

Exercise Objectives, Capabilities and Activities

Capabilities-based planning allows for the exercise planning team to develop exercise objectives and observe exercise outcomes through a framework of specific action items that were derived from the Target Capabilities List (TCL). The capabilities listed below form the foundation for the organization of all objectives and observations in this exercise. Additionally, each capability is linked to several corresponding activities and tasks to provide additional detail.

Based upon the identified exercise objectives below, the exercise planning team decided to demonstrate the following capabilities during this exercise:

Multi-Agency Collaboration

Activity Target Capability

# 1 Initiate Multi-Agency Collaboration

# 2 Maintain Multi-Agency Collaboration

Scenario Summary

It is the middle of July and local citizens have been complacent in their hurricane preparedness activities because this year’s hurricane season has not even seen its first tropical storm. Families are making their last minute plans for their summer vacations while local business owners and government agencies are thinking that the hurricane season could be very inconsequential. However weather forecasters are predicting a major change in the upper atmosphere that could see a sharp increase in the number and severity of hurricanes within the next few weeks.

By late July county residents, business owners and government officials begin to follow the projected path of the season’s first tropical storm.

SECTION 3: ANALYSIS OF CAPABILITIES

Performance Target Capability

Weak Activity # 1: Initiate Multi-Agency Collaboration

Associated Critical Tasks

Task # 1.1: Ensure all appropriate governmental agencies and non-governmental organizations are notified regarding the current Common Operating Picture (COP).

Weak Evaluator # 1

 Some municipalities interfaced with one another in an effort to share information and coordinate actions. However this was not the case for most of the municipalities participating in the exercise.  Many of the municipalities were waiting on the county to provide Observations guidance in regards to what response actions they should take.  The county is currently in a very unique position to take on a stronger leadership role regarding disaster response and recovery collaboration and coordination among municipalities and community / faith based organizations.

 The county should consider using the Multiagency Coordinating Recommendation Center (MACC) concept to enhance the capability to gather and s disseminate important agency and organization disaster response and recovery information.

Task # 1.2: Establish a mechanism to ensure that all governmental agencies and non-governmental organizations are engaged in sharing information so that a countywide Common Operating Picture (COP) can be established.

Weak Evaluator # 1

 There currently is not a system in place that allows for the timely Observations sharing of information among disaster response agencies and organizations.

Recommendation  Develop a set of systems that would be utilized during disasters s to ensure that all agencies and organizations are sharing information so that a countywide COP can be established. Systems as simple as an e-mail list serve or Dropbox could be used.

 Establish a schedule and a set of protocols that would be used to conduct an operational conference call in which important information can be shared. These conference calls could either be conducted as a single countywide call or as regional calls.  Once these systems are in place conduct a countywide drill with each response agency and organization participating from their normal base of operations.

Task # 1.3: Activate plans, procedures and policies for coordinating, managing and disseminating public information and warnings.

Weak Evaluator # 1

 While a number of municipalities appeared to have well thought- out plans for disseminating information to the public there was not a coordinated approach to providing the public with timely information and warnings. In today’s information savvy world Observations where individuals are accessing information from multiple sources then determining what action to take it is extremely important for all response agencies and organization to speak as one.

 Consider pooling the resources of all the municipalities to develop a single countywide emergency notification system. Recommendation  Develop an set of Standard Operating Guidelines that would be s adopted by all the county’s municipalities regarding processes such as ordering an evacuation, notifying residents of available shelters, instructing residents how to handle storm debris, etc.

Performance Target Capability

Adequate Activity # 2: Maintain Multi-Agency Collaboration

Associated Critical Tasks

Task # 2.1: Maintain an organizational / operational structure which will ensure that all governmental agencies and non-governmental organizations will continue to share valuable information.

Adequate Evaluator # 1

Observations  In some instances neighboring municipalities shared planning assumptions and information with one another.  Municipal planning assumptions and information was not shared

with community / faith based organizations.  The simulated conference calls did provide an opportunity for each agency and organization to share vital information and planning assumptions.

 As indicated above a MACC would enhance the ability for Recommendation coordination and collaboration among all of the response s agencies and organizations.

Task # 2.2: A countywide Situation Report is developed with input from all governmental agencies and non-governmental organizations. The report is then disseminated to all governmental agencies and non-governmental organizations.

Adequate Evaluator # 1

 During the exercise important information was gathered via the simulated conference call as well as via the Incident Action Plans Observations that were being submitted into the ONX System. This information then served as the foundation for developing a countywide Situation Report.

 Develop and implement a mechanism for collecting disaster response and recovery information from all agencies and Recommendation organizations. This mechanism should also include a template of s what should go into a countywide Situation Report and how that report will be disseminated to all appropriate agencies and organizations.

Task # 2.3: Identify event caused needs / concerns then notify appropriate governmental agency or non-governmental organization that can assist with meeting the needs.

Weak Evaluator # 1

 Exercise participants were able to identify the various disaster caused needs.  Municipalities had a basic understanding of the capabilities of a Observations few of the community / faith based organizations. However, there needs to be a greater understanding of the services that are provided by community / faith based organization before and after a disaster.

Recommendation  2-1-1 is a great resource and its capabilities should be integrated s into the all of the agency and organization response and recovery plans.

 Integrate the capabilities of VOAD into the planning process of all municipalities and the county.

Task # 2.4: Collaborate on the provision of timely and accurate emergency public information through the Joint Information System (JIS).

Weak Evaluator # 1

 While municipalities, for the most part, currently develop and disseminate their own information to local and regional media Observations outlets, a number of municipalities as well as the community / faith based organization stated that they see the need for greater public information coordination and collaboration.

 Develop and implement a Joint Information System that can be Recommendation utilized by all agencies and organization. s  Provide training on utilization of the system.

SECTION 4: CONCLUSION

Exercises such as this one allow personnel to validate training and practice strategic and tactical prevention, protection, response and recovery capabilities in a risk-reduced environment. Exercises are the primary tool for assessing preparedness and identifying areas for improvement, while demonstrating community resolve to prepare for major incidents.

Exercises aim to help entities within the community gain objective assessments of their capabilities so that gaps, deficiencies, and vulnerabilities are addressed prior to a real incident.

Exercises are the most effective (and safer) means to:

 Assess and validate policies, plans, procedures, training, equipment, assumptions, and interagency agreements;  Clarify roles and responsibilities;  Improve interagency coordination and communications;  Identify gaps in resources;  Measure performance; and  Identify opportunities for improvement.

This exercise succeeded in addressing all of the above as it provided examples of good to excellent participant knowledge, teamwork, communication and use of plans and procedures while pointing out areas in need of improvement and clarification.

Listed below is a summary of the level of performance the Target Capabilities and Tasks evaluated during the exercise. This summary outlines the areas in which emergency response agencies and organization in Monmouth County are strong as well as identifying areas that the departments should invest future planning, training and exercise funds on.

Activity Target Capability Performance

# 1 Initiate Multi-Agency Collaboration Weak

# 2 Maintain Multi-Agency Collaboration Adequate

APPENDIX A: IMPROVEMENT PLAN

This Improvement Plan has been developed specifically for Monmouth County Office of Emergency Management based on the results of Commanding Communications - A Hurricane Response Exercise - Southern Region conducted on May 11, 2012. These recommendations draw on both the After Action Report and the After Action Conference.

Responsible Completion Capability Observation Recommendation Agency Date

At the beginning of the exercise Develop a virtual Multiagency only a few agencies and Coordinating Center (MACC) organizations collaborated or concept designed to enhance Monmouth coordinated with one another or information gathering and sharing 10/1/2012 County OEM the county. among municipalities, the county and community / faith based organizations.

Implement a virtual Multiagency Initiate and maintain Begin Coordinating Center (MACC) by Multi-Agency Monmouth implementation providing training on its utilization Collaboration County OEM by 1/1/2013 then conduct a countywide virtual MACC exercise

Have 2-1-1 and VOAD leadership conduct a workshop on the resources that are available to Monmouth 10/1/2012 individuals and families via 2-1-1 County OEM before, during and after a disaster.

There was limited coordination Develop Joint Information and collaboration among System (JIS) designed to ensure Monmouth 1/1/2013 agencies and organizations when consistent messaging is provided County OEM disseminating important to residents and the media. information to residents and the media. Implement the Joint Information System (JIS) by conducting Begin training on the utilization of the Monmouth implementation system. Incorporate the use of County OEM by 2/1/2013 the JIS in the virtual MACC exercise.

Initiate and maintain Develop a set of Standard Multi-Agency Operating Guidelines that would Collaboration be adopted by all the county’s municipalities regarding Monmouth processes such as ordering an 3/1/2013 County OEM evacuation, notifying residents of available shelters, instructing residents how to hand storm debris, etc.

Implement procedures to fully incorporate all appropriate forms Monmouth of social media (Twitter, 1/1/2013 County OEM Facebook, YouTube, etc.) into emergency notification plans.

Initiate and maintain The ability for municipalities to Engage all municipalities and Monmouth Begin planning Multi-Agency effectively establish and manage appropriate organizations in the County OEM process by

evacuee shelters appears to be development of a countywide very limited. sheltering plan. Upon completion of the plan assess its capability by conducting a drill in which in 6/1/2012 Collaboration which all of the shelters are simultaneously opened and staffed with appropriate personnel.

Currently there is not a Identify and implement a low or countywide emergency no cost solution for sharing management communications information among the various system that links municipal and municipal and county EOCs. Monmouth 2/1/2013 the county EOCs together. There are a number of County OEM inexpensive or free internet based applications that could be utilized to resolve this issue.

APPENDIX B: PARTICIPANT FEEDBACK (3 THUMBS UP – 3 THUMBS DOWN)

Thumbs Up

Group talk about issues they have.

Communications.

Allocation of resources.

We became aware of lots of questions that need to be answered.

Learned some about United Way and county OEM connections.

Listening to preparations of municipalities that were here today.

Advanced planning important.

Communication with neighboring jurisdictions and county planning was done.

Staffing was sufficient and well staggered.

All information was very informative.

Format was different and refreshing.

Team members became more acquainted and learned about VOAD concepts and procedures.

Team members became acquainted with ICS and need for preparation.

Team members learned about the interaction levels between agencies and organizations.

Communications cooperation.

Proper allocation of resources.

Incite and realization of current plan deficiencies.

Preplanning.

Making sure we communicated within the township.

After action meeting with community and county.

Understanding of all the aspects needed.

Recognized the deficiencies within the borough.

Understanding of tools needed to be used for a better action plan.

Communication with county OEM was good.

Able to identify significant amount of needs prior to landfall.

EOP and IAP allowed for easy transition from preparation to response and then recovery.

Good interactions with the VOADS.

Debris management, recovery and re-entry plan.

Communications with the municipalities before, during and after the event.

Community notification and inter agency communication.

Preparation of emergency services.

Made decisions to evacuate at correct juncture.

Having the majority of the county's municipalities and other support agencies in the same room at the same time.

Communications and interaction with neighboring jurisdictions.

Ability to review, test and evaluate our existing EOP, in anticipation of future events, and in response to the information provided by our neighboring communities, the county and other resource agencies.

Ability to test our EOP.

Ability to network with other agencies.

Experience gained through going through the phases of the exercise and implementing our responses.

The scenario was well laid out and the arrangement of our seating allowed me to communicate and coordinate with Belmar and Bradley Beach during the exercise and only had to walk a few feet to work with Neptune and Neptune City.

Communication on challenges faced allowed me to discuss issues with my response partners and then develop a detailed response plan and to identify items / plans needed for future incidents.

The self-paced process allows for us to focus on our needs and not be delayed or rushed by the pace of others.

Coordination of shelters with county.

Coordination with Salvation Army on mobile feeding and bulk distribution.

Caused internal discussion on action plans.

All agreed we need to follow Incident Command structure.

All agreed twice daily VOAD calls are imperative.

Development of township wide communication plan.

Accountability and coordination of all agencies.

Information sharing.

Had a chance to discuss issues with county

Had an opportunity to interact with community groups.

Listening to the municipality OEMs provided an insight to their issues and processes.

Got us thinking about what we would do in the event of natural disaster such as hurricane.

Talking to people from other organizations - Mike Oppegaard, Monmouth County OEM; Tara Maffei, UWMC, VOAD; Jen Swan, American Red Cross and Holly Heath- Gallagher, Salvation Army.

Scenarios which made us think about how to be prepared for decisions immediately before and after the disaster.

Our initial planning was correct.

Good team concept.

Lessons learned about post disaster.

Communication of personnel before the hurricane.

Coordination of emergency workers during the event.

Response of Public Works Department after the storm.

Participation from municipal coordinators.

Networking with NGO's.

Group discussions.

Good opportunity to work with OEM staff and American Red Cross volunteers to discuss

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Helped us get insight into the priorities the various municipalities have, and why our priorities are not the same as their priorities. This will help us with our dialogues going forward.

Refine action plan.

Realizing that developing an improved plan covering all the major areas needed to deal with the hurricane early on.

Working on detailed aspects of the approaching storm that exposed potential weaknesses in the response and attempts to strengthen those weaknesses.

Realizing that both public and private industries partner when disaster strikes and having a preplan between both parties will help the city be more effective and efficient in recovery efforts.

Tested our Emergency Operations Plan.

Network with other municipalities and agencies.

Experience gained through the phases of the exercise and implementing our responses.

Understanding of our system.

Networking with new members of our team.

Networking with outside agencies around our community.

Thumbs Down

More background information? Checklists, handouts of names and addresses and telephone number and e-mail addresses.

Suggested procedures, action plans, written scenarios (samples).

Debris management and equipment needs to be addressed.

Contracts and job descriptions should include emergency changes due to storms or events.

We need to review all plans regarding emergencies.

Train more individuals in all aspects of planning and recovery.

More "training" as part of the training; more presentation aspect rather than interactive.

More participation between government and NGO members.

More information on preparation and response necessary.

Communications with surrounding agencies.

Communications with nonprofit organizations.

Coordination with local private contractors.

Staffing shifts for Department of Public Works workers, as well as Fire Department members.

Messaging coordination with other communities and county.

Coordination with neighboring communities.

Strengthen continuity of operations plan.

Verify shelters meet FEMA requirements.

Shelter coordination.

Realistic expectations and capabilities of the municipalities.

More open dialog with NGO / VOADS throughout the year as well as during events.

Shelter staffing and decision to place was too soon. In the future, we will avoid opening the shelter before the storm due to inability to withstand hurricane force winds.

Collaborate with neighboring towns to ensure common message is being sent out.

Have more private sector agreements and contracts to implement in recovery phase.

Resource availability will be a challenge as a result of the regional nature of the event, requiring the need for additional private resources.

Improved communication and cooperation with neighboring communities to establish a sub-regional plan within the county to respond to similar events.

Training of employees and volunteer responders to fill support positions during a protracted response post event.

We need to implement written agreements with vendors to ensure resources.

We can better communicate with surrounding municipalities.

We need to re-work certain procedures in order to make the most efficient use of them under certain conditions.

We will need to work on better communication capabilities with our residents as our standard process through the emergency notification system may be limited by power outages or telephone service for some residents.

We need to work on some redundancies within the borough as far as communications capabilities and additional staff familiar with the municipal water and sewer systems to ensure that we are capable of assessing the situations that may present themselves when the superintendent is not available, with the recent retirement of one his back up from Department of Public Works the need is amplified

Supplies of drinking water for responders and residents should be evaluated as well as food that can sustain the borough for a period of time following a disaster.

Coordination with municipalities on damage assessment.

No mention of or representation of how the county would deal with the ROIC - back and forth communication - E team for example.

No real mapping of what areas were hurt - could have said Route 36 on the ocean was impassable etc.

More communication with county and municipalities about capabilities and challenges for us and them.

Revise the current operations plan to reflect what was learned today.

Need to recruit and train more volunteers as well as coordinate staffing gaps with supporting agencies.

Background for community and faith-based organizations on different groups involved in emergency management at different levels of government - municipal, county, state, as well as hierarchy with non-government groups, including VOAD, Salvation Army and the American Red Cross.

What resources are available to community and faith-based groups and what resources these groups can help to organize, e.g., congregations, people in surrounding neighborhoods.

Possible roles that community and faith-based groups can play in providing channels of communication from emergency management groups to citizens and vice-versa.

Manpower evaluation. preparations for major disruptions in food, water, logistics, equipment etc.

Handling post disaster situations.

Require three people from each town to attend the exercise. Hard to do task with one person from a town.

Municipalities need a better understanding of the developing county plans.

Utilization of NGO's in fulfilling short falls.

Countywide uniform notification system.

Communicating with the municipalities to ensure that we are aware when evacuations are being suggested vs. ordered. This makes a huge impact on our ability to deliver services to meet expectations (if those expectations are possible to meet).

Defining expectations.

Coordinating equipment and personnel.

Collaboration became increasingly important and made me realize that detailed preplanning was paramount when faced with a natural disaster. Small details loomed larger when facts were considered from other agencies outside my area of expertise as it should be. Improve listening skills.

As the storm came closer it became clear that there were missed opportunities that could have been mitigated when the storm was first becoming known. Again pre planning and frequent tabletop exercises will help lessen the impact a devastating storm can have on the city.

Having all resources available for dealing with the devastation left by the storm is key and lining up those resources in a plan will help in recovery efforts. Don't take for granted that when the storm is over so is the disaster response. A lesson learned from Hurricane Katrina shows us that recovery can take years and is still going on today. Preparedness is the key to mitigating recovery obstacles and result in eventual success.

Need to implement written agreements with outside vendors.

Better communication with surrounding municipalities.

Revise protocols.

Communication issues with outside agencies.

Alternatives to communicating with the community when power fails for long periods of time.

Distribution sites throughout the community.

APPENDIX C: ACRONYMS

Acronym Meaning

COMM Communications

CONOPS Concept of Operations

EOC Emergency Operations Center

ESF Emergency Support Function

IAP Incident Action Plan

IC Incident Command

ICS Incident Command System

IMT Incident Management Team

JIC Joint Information Center

LOFR Liaison Officer

MOA Memorandum of Agreement

MOU Memorandum of Understanding

NIMS National Incident Management System

OPS Operations

PIO Public Information Officer

SERT State Emergency Response Team

SitRep Situation Report

SOG Standard Operating Guideline

SOP Standard Operating Procedure

UC Unified Command

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