Advice After The Joplin Tornado: Put A Disaster Recovery In Place Now
An HTG Peer Group Interview with Jane Cage, chairman of the Citizens Advisory Recovery Team, and John Motazedi, CEO, SNC Squared
Late in the afternoon on May 22, 2011, an EF5 tornado tore a mile-wide swath through the southern part of Joplin, Missouri. It was the deadliest tornado in the U.S. since 1947 and has proven to be the costliest single tornado in U.S. history with more than $2.2 billion in insurance payouts.
That day changed life forever for many Joplin residents, including two who are members of the IT industry: Jane Cage, former partner in Heartland Technology Solutions, the company she and her partners sold in 2012; and John Motazedi, owner of SNC Squared Technology Group. For Motazedi, the tornado meant the complete destruction of his building. For Cage, her company and home saw no damage but it started her on a journey to serve the community in the rebuilding efforts.
Now, three years after the tornado, they share information about the progress that has been made and what life is like in Joplin today.
Please give a brief glimpse into what your day was like in May 2011 when a massive EF5 tornado tore through Joplin. What were you doing and how were you and your company impacted?
Cage: On the afternoon of the tornado I was at home. When the sirens went off, I put the pets on the leash or in the crate and went to the basement. When I came up, everything at home was fine. I went with a friend to the office, and everything was good there as well. Cable and phone service was out — it wasn’t until later in the evening that I began to realize the gravity of the situation.
The next morning, I went to the office to check on client status and then left to help a friend. It was then I saw the devastation — and was completely overwhelmed. When we couldn’t figure out where we were in a town I’ve lived in for over 20 years, it made me nauseated.
Motazedi: It was an interesting weekend. I had taken our Boy Scout troop camping on Friday night about 60 miles south of Joplin. We stayed the night Friday and Saturday. It was odd that I had my portable weather radio with me as I had never done that before. It was one of the new solar powered flashlight radios so I wanted to show it to the kids. You know what the scouts say: “Always be prepared.” (Little did I know how applicable that motto would prove to be!)
Sunday morning we woke up at 6 a.m. and turned on the radio. They were calling for thunderstorms from mid-day Saturday and had increased the chances to severe by Sunday morning. We packed and went home by noon that day. Our family was doing the typical Sunday routine of washing clothes, cleaning, doing the official “Honey Do” lists. About 5 or so we noticed the weather was getting bad. The clouds and wind were building up. Living in Missouri this is typical and nothing about which to be alarmed. Around 5:20 p.m. the sky was an ominous green color and soon after it started hailing.
There was something odd, and it is very difficult for me to explain. We had seen wind and hail before, but this time it was oddly quiet. We typically never go to the basement; but again this time something was different, so we took the kids down to the basement.
We had power flicker on us a few times but it came back on with no issues. We came up out of the basement and all was well as far as we were concerned. Our house was fine as we had only lost a few limbs in the yard.
Unbeknownst to us the tornado had touched down 0.7 miles north of our house. I was concerned that we might have lost some power lines so I decided to go to the office and lock the doors as we have magnetic entry doors. I wanted to check everything out to make sure we had no issues.
The whole family jumped in the car. We were expecting to see some typical tree limbs down but nothing spectacular. We drove north about a quarter mile, and as we rounded the corner the view took our breath away. It was what you would see in a typical Hollywood war movie. My kids started screaming and crying. It was a frightening scene that words cannot describe. Right in front of us stood the largest building in Joplin, completely decimated. All the windows were broken, curtains, light fixtures hanging outside with trees and cars piled high. Everything was completely destroyed both to the east and west. Nothing was standing taller than about 6 feet with the exception of the hospital.
Traffic was backed up and everyone was trying to get the injured to the only existing hospital. Pickup trucks with injured people in the back were pulling up to the hospital. I saw one of our doctor clients and asked if she needed help. She said, “Yes.”
I jumped out of the car and told the family to drive by the office, lock the doors, and meet me at home. Little did I know at the time there was nothing at the office but a pile of debris. The remainder of the day we just helped and searched for people and bodies. It was great to see families reuniting and individuals finding their loved ones.
What does the city look like now, three years after the tornado. Can you still see the damage everywhere?
Cage: Progress in Joplin makes it less obvious where the tornado struck — at least on the surface. We have many buildings and houses back. There is still clean but bare ground that is waiting for a new purpose. It doesn’t take too long however, to see “the scar.”
There are two really clear delineators. The first is the lack of trees within the devastation zone. Once a visitor realizes that, it is very clear where the tornado struck. The second indicator is the difference in street lights and utility lines. The quick replacements look nothing like the originals.
Motazedi: That night I had contacted my buddies from my HTG Peer Group and told them of the significant damage in the area. Two of them immediately picked up supplies, contacted HTG management and coordinated a help plan.
In coordination with HTG, they headed up to Joplin. The following day we started the recovery of all the systems. Our first step was to get ourselves backup as we were no help to any of our clients without our infrastructure working. We are pretty meticulous about backups and system documentation, so we got ourselves back up and running in the secondary site (my basement) within five hours.
We then started triaging our clients. Fifty percent of them had taken a hit from the tornado and many had lost everything.
HTG was incredible at this point, along with HP and a multitude of technical engineers they started providing resources to SNC Squared. We had all of our clients up and running 72 hours after the tornado. We had a community suffering, they had lost everything and they needed medical care with access to their medications and physicians.
Update us on what you are doing today—what has the road to recovery looked like for you?
Cage: Since the tornado, my life has pivoted in many ways. I felt so compelled to make a difference that I have a new focus on helping Joplin recover in a way that honors its survivors and its victims.
The sale of HTS (the IT Company in which I was a partner) has given me the opportunity to become a professional volunteer for a portion of my time, and I’ve begun to work on a start-up company with some of the government folks that helped here in Joplin that focuses on community recovery and resilience.
I’ve also had some terrific chances to work way above my pay grade. The people that I have met in government and other communities have been terrific inspirations. I also had the opportunity to go back to school when I was selected to attend a Harvard executive education class — the National Preparedness Leadership Initiative. The focus was on crisis leadership. I need to be certain that I find ways to pay that forward.
Motazedi: The city has taken great strides at recovery. The hospital is being rebuilt and is scheduled to open March of 2015. Many of the public and private schools were completely destroyed. Homes are being rebuilt to better and stronger standards. There are still a few places around town that have not been rebuilt but that is normal and will take a few more years. People still take the tornado sirens seriously. My kids run down to the basement every time there is a remote chance of severe weather. The fear will be with them forever.
SNC Squared picked up the pieces and rebuilt ourselves just like the city. There are still days that are painful or things we come across that take us back to that dark day in May. We have grown from 7 to 15 employees. We have expanded to a much broader region and our services have expanded to manufacturing, rural healthcare and telemedicine. Our personal message is disaster recovery and planning. Planning for a day you hope never happens.
HTG Peer Groups’ recent Leadership Academy was focused on Business Legacy planning and in particular, Business Continuity and Disaster Recovery planning. Given your experience, what advice would you give to small business owners around BC/DR planning?
Cage: FEMA has a famous maxim: “All disasters are local.” I would hope that the intensity of any disaster that someone might face would never equal the devastation we saw in Joplin.
One important piece that I have learned is that an organizational resilience plan is hampered if your employees don’t have a personal resilience plan. Your company can be prepared — but if employees aren’t able to report to work, what good is it?
Motazedi: We have started practicing our legacy plan. That seems odd how do you practice a legacy plan? By putting processes in place so that the company can continue to run regardless of what happens. I took three weeks off in June, and the company ran just fine. We continued to sell, visit with clients, and deliver as we do normally. We have had the serious talks with our families, lawyers, executors of our estates, and bankers. I don’t think that will ever be 100 percent finished, but the discussions have started and will continue. We try to get better every step of the way.
SNC Squared has developed a 50+ page disaster recovery and contingency plan and some of those have already been tested and re-evaluated.
For all of you that do not have a disaster recovery plan in place the time is now. You have got to get on the ball and put something in place. The question is not if a disaster will happen but when the disaster will occur. It could be the time least expected and “should have, could have” are not good enough.
About Jane Cage
Jane Cage is the volunteer chairman of the Citizens Advisory Recovery Team (CART) formed after the May 2011 tornado. As CART leader, she led the group in listening to citizens about their vision for a recovered Joplin. The resulting report became the long-term recovery plan for Joplin. Today Jane acts as a community liaison for many groups and participates in many recovery activities. Jane has been recognized nationally for her community work and won numerous awards including an award from the Department of Homeland Security for Resilience and a Leadership Award presented by the National Weather Association.
​With more than 30 years of IT industry experience, Jane has become one of the most influential and powerful women in the IT channel. Known for her channel advocacy, leadership and gentle approach to building a successful business, Jane has served on a number of industry and vendor boards and is the former COO of Heartland Technology Solutions, a regional business networking firm with offices in five states.
About John Motazedi
John Motazedi is CEO of SNC Squared in Joplin, Missouri. He is a member of HTG Peer Groups in the HTG8 group and a strong advocate for small businesses to take the time to create and test their Business Continuity and Disaster Recovery plans.