Managing Disaster – What every property management professional needs to know about having a solid disaster management plan in place.

Most multi-family communities suffer some type of structural emergency every year.  The potential for fire, flooding, or vandalism is real.  Being prepared to handle an emergency is the key to having homeowners undergo the least amount of disturbance and inconvenience as possible. 
                         
An emergency management plan is essential but not difficult to produce, and can be useful in many different crises.  A manual, kept on site with the community manager or on-call staff, containing everything anyone would need to know about the property is a great help to those responsible for handling an emergency properly and expediently. 

A carefully considered emergency management plan contains a floor plan of the property showing all pull stations, sprinkler heads, elevator shut-offs, water cutoffs, gas cutoffs and electrical panel boxes.  It will be crucial to know about all of these during the initial stages of the emergency.  There are several other items relevant to the community that should also be a part of the emergency management plan.  In condominiums, the name of the Condominium Board President, the Board members and their telephone numbers as well as the names and contact numbers of the Property Management Company and their liaison to the community is essential information.  With this should be names, addresses and telephone numbers of all unit owners.

At the time of an emergency, it is also important to know the property’s Insurance Company, the agent’s name and their emergency telephone numbers; information about the mortgage on the property; alternative immediate housing as well as the telephone number to the Red Cross and other emergency services.

Depending on the size and nature of the crisis, the maintenance crew could play a major role in securing the property after an emergency.  It is valuable then to keep on hand a stock of plywood, nails, locks and hasps, vehicle and pedestrian barriers, security tape and lights.  In case the crisis requires extensive services, the management plan should also contain emergency telephone numbers and contact names for all preferred vendors (those familiar with the property and able to perform immediately) and back-up vendors.

Advice on responding to media questions about the crisis is a useful part of any disaster management guide, as are pointers on how to communicate with residents, and a detailed explanation of how to coordinate action in response to every type of emergency.  Preparation is essential, but how those in charge respond to the emergency is key to properly handling a crisis at a community.

Training on-call staff people to use an emergency management plan is necessary in order to minimize disruption on the damaged property.  Knowledge and information about the property, in a concise, accessible format, can only make handling an emergency easier for community managers, homeowners and vendors alike.