Lessons Learned From Katrina: Emergency Preparedness and Response in Research Laura S. Levy, Ph.D. A

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Lessons Learned From KatrinaEmergency
Preparedness and Response in Research Laura S.
Levy, Ph.D.Associate Senior Vice President for
ResearchTulane University
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• What happened
• How we responded
• What we learned

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TimelineAugust 26, 3 a.m.Friday
Hurricane Katrina weakens to T.S. Katrina
following landfall
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TimelineAugust 26, 9 p.m.Friday
Revised track seriously threatens New Orleans
metropolitan area
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Feeding enrichment Scattered forage material
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Monday August 29, 2005
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Impact on Research Infrastructure

• Cessation or interruption of educational,
  training, and research activities
• Displacement of faculty, staff, students
• Animals and perishable biological materials in
  flooded buildings
• Disruption of administrative and business
  procedures
• Extensive damage to facilities and equipment

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Tulane University Department of Vivarial Science
ResearchNew Orleans facilities

• Major animal facilities on two campuses
• 38,000 sq. ft. animal holding space, 8500
  animals

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Tulane National Primate Research Center gt5,000
non-human primates on 500 acres
Tulane NationalPrimate Research Center
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DVSR Disaster Plan

• Developed in coordination with Tulane Office of
  Emergency Preparedness.
• Coordinated with Facilities Services.
• Plan development and pre-storm preparation are
  critical.

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Advance Preparation

• Pre-hurricane season practice drill and training
• Weekly generator testing
• Secure Emergency Supplies
• Identification of essential personnel

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Advance Preparation

• Ensure safety of research colony animals
• Secure additional food supply
• Ready evacuation plan
• Offsite back-up of animal records system

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Storm Preparations

• Essential personnel on-site (DVSR and Facilities
  Services)
• Send contact person offsite to handle
  communications with key agencies (NIH, USDA,
  etc.)
• Activate Evacuation Plan of Animals

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The Rescue - Timeline

• Aug. 29 Storm hits
• Aug. 30 Extensive flooding
• White Caps on Tulane Avenue
• USDA, OLAW, and AAALAC contacted
• Re-entry to rescue remaining lab animals
  initiated
• Humane euthanasia of colony begins

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The Rescue - Timeline

• Aug. 31 Loss of emergency generator power and
  communications
• Sept. 1 - 2 E1 personnel safely evacuated from
  the Health Sciences Center Vivarium
• Sept. 6 - 8
• Transgenic founder animals evacuated from TUHSC
  and TUV to TNPRC.
• Remaining animals humanely euthanized.

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Obstacles to Rescue

• No electricity
• No plumbing or potable water
• Roads impassable
• Communications lost (voice and data)
• Fuel in short supply
• Civil unrest

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Post-Katrina Devastation
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Post-Katrina Devastation
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Clean-up and Re-Entry

• Oct. 3 Remediation of Vivaria begins
• Electricity and water partially restored.
• No steam
• Professional remediation team
• Nov. 1 Re-entry of Vivaria by Tulane personnel
• 5 of 11 technicians available for return to TUHSC
  facility
• November and December Scrubbing every inch of
  facility from floor to ceiling!
• Jan. 2 Re-entry and repopulation
• 1/3 of TUHSC facility had utilities
• Remaining 2/3 brought on-line in Feb/March

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Tulane DVSR Response

• Valuable, investigator-derived transgenic animals
  were successfully evacuated to approved
  facilities.
• Remaining animals were humanely euthanized.
• No animals died as a direct result of the storm.
• Essential personnel were successfully evacuated
  from the city

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• Tulane DVSR
• James Blanchard
• Patricia Coan
• Lynell Dupepe
• Kimberly Scamardo
• Martina Knoedler
• Ronald Handy
• Scott Malbrough
• Anthony Deluca
• TNPRC
• Aubrey Releford
• Wayne Cyprian

USDA Fred Bourgeois Lynn Bourgeois USDA Field
Crew
Texas Valeri Lansford John Park John Zapada
Tulane Police LA State Police Troop B National
Guard Kelly  Giangrosso
LSU School of Vet Med Rick Ramsey
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Perishable Biological Materials

• Contents of freezers and refrigerators could not
  be salvaged.
• Liquid Nitrogen storage
• Portable tanks co-located to tank farm
• Maintained with regular liquid nitrogen
  replacement for months.
• Large tanks maintained in place.
• Many valuable specimens, cell lines, reagents
  were saved.

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Interactions with Federal Agencies

• Within days, NIH and NSF established points of
  contact.
• By Sept. 21, letters were sent to
• Office of Human Research Protection
• FDA
• Office of Biotechnology Activities
• Office of Laboratory Animal Welfare
• Acute need for emergency policies and procedures
  to meet federal regulation.

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Uniform Federal-Wide Response

• October 5 Joint Announcement from OMB/OSTP
• Flexibility with application deadlines
• Continued expenditure of award funds for salaries
• Delays for financial and other reporting
  requirements
• Alternatives for original documentation

• Other emergency policies and procedures
• NIH accepted submissions directly from
  investigators
• Procedures to expend funds from remote sites
• Draw-downs for federal expenditures

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Office of Research Administration

• Director housed at UNC-Chapel Hill
• Staff dispersed across the country.
• NSF FastLane operative NIH developed special
  submission procedures
• OSTP/OMB Joint Announcement established emergency
  procedures for rebudgeting, automatic carryover,
  automatic no-cost extension, others

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Human Subjects Protection

• TUOHRP Director housed at UNC-Chapel Hill
• Study participants dispersed Records
  inaccessible for weeks.
• Investigators, study coordinators and sponsors
  attempted to contact participants.
• Notices posted on web sites designed to reunite
  patients and physicians.
• 24-hour research subject hotline advertised in
  all major US newspapers.

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How Can We Prepare?

• Loss of Power/Fuel Availability
• Ensure that critical functions/buildings are
  supported by natural gas or diesel generators.
• Have adequate fuel storage facilities for several
  weeks of support if possible.
• Establish relationships with fuel suppliers out
  of your region.

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How Can We Prepare?

• Civil Unrest
• Properly train and equip police/security
  personnel (tactical training, body armor,
  carbines/shotguns, tactical flashlights, etc.)
• Understand that the ability of local law
  enforcement to respond is likely to be severely
  compromised.
• Require and provide security escort to personnel
  entering unsecured facility.

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How Can We Prepare?

• Purchasing goods and services
• High limit purchasing cards without restrictions
  available to key personnel
• Cash on hand in a secure location

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How Can We Prepare?

• Sheltering evacuated/displaced employees
• Maintain provisions for food preparation and a
  supply of long shelf-life items such as MREs.
• Establish institutional policy regarding shelter
  for non-essential personnel in university
  buildings.

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How Can We Prepare?

• Personnel
• Plan for relocating payroll functions immediately
  after the disaster.
• Utilize direct deposit for all employees.
• Each department maintains emergency contact
  information for all employees and communication
  plan.

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How Can We Prepare?

• Preservation of Research Animals
• Identification and provisions for Essential
  Personnel
• Animal holding space at remote locations.
• Offsite cryopreservation of transgenic strains.
• Plan logistics for evacuation,transport and
  security.
• Clear articulation of priorities for animal
  evacuation.
• Readily visible marking of cages designated for
  evacuation.

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How Can We Prepare?

• Perishable Biological Materials
• Identification and provisions for Essential
  Personnel
• Relocate portable liquid nitrogen storage tanks
  before evacuation.
• Obtain supply of liquid nitrogen
• CO2 backup for ultracold freezers
• Generator-driven emergency power
• Off-site storage may be useful

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How Can We Prepare?

• Human Subjects Protection
• Emergency contact information for staff
• Database backup accessible from remote site
• Toll-free emergency phone number publicized in
  advance
• Wallet cards carried by study participants
• Study protocol number
• Participant identification number
• Emergency contact information for investigator or
  study coordinator
• Toll-free emergency phone number

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How Can We Prepare?

• Office of Research Administration
• Emergency contact information for staff
• Database backup accessible from remote site
• Advise PIs to evacuate with
• Proposals, protocols in progress
• IRB, IACUC approvals
• User names and passwords for FastLane, eRA
  Commons, others
• Institutional purchasing card
• Account numbers for active awards
• Recent budget statements for PI accounts
• Names and contact information for agency Program
  Officers

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SummaryCritical Elements to Preserve Research
Assets in an Emergency

• Emergency Planning
• Communication
• Productive Relationships with Federal Agencies