Community Emergency Planning in NYC - A Toolkit for Community Leaders

SAMPLE SCENARIO: POWER OUTAGE

(This scenario is based on real conditions during the 2003 NYC blackout.)

Print copies of your plan and fill out the related staffing charts and assessment tools as you run through the exercise. Take notes on lessons learned, decisions made, and gaps that exist in your planning. 

DAY 1:

A power surge causes millions of people to lose electricity. The city is gridlocked, cell service is disrupted, but landlines are working.

1. Who do you first communicate within your network? How do you communicate with the rest of the network members?

2. How do you reach your community members and what is your message to them?

3. What are the impacts of the outage and needs of your community? Fill in the needs assessment chart in your plan template.

4. What actions do you take to support people most vulnerable to power outages? Fill in tasks and leads in your staffing chart.

5. Identify community resources that can help meet your community’s needs and plan how you will connect people to them. Fill in your resource assessment and staffing chart. 

DAY 2:

In one day there have been 60 working fires, caused mostly by candles. The FDNY answered over 7,500 calls which resulted in the transmission of over 4,000 alarms. Most high-rise buildings do not have access to water with the power disruption.

1. How can your network notify your community of the dangers of candles? (Also think about how you can you incorporate this message into year-round preparedness education.)

2. What impact will the power outage have on services in your community? How can your network share resources to keep certain activities going?

3. Spontaneous volunteers contact you to help. Who organizes them?

4. Continue to record tasks, leads and community resource assignments on your staffing chart.

DAY 3:

Power is restored to NYC. Most of the deaths in NYC are attributed to carbon monoxide poisoning.

1. How can you communicate proper precautions for generator use in your year-round preparedness education?

2. Who in your network will update your needs assessment chart and how will they make their new assessment?

3. What resources are still available and can be used for recovery? Update your resource assessment chart and reevaluate your staffing chart for recovery efforts.