This presentation takes a look at two recent Cisco TacOps deployments, Hurricane Sandy and Super Typhoon Haiyan, and examines the emerging communications technologies that are bringing innovation to disasters and humanitarian crises.

1. Lessons learned from Hurricane Sandy
and Super Typhoon Haiyan
Cisco Systems Tactical Operations
www.cisco.com/go/tacops
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2. • About Cisco Tactical Operations
• The Fundamental Technology Problem
• Hurricane Sandy
• Lessons From Sandy
• Super Typhoon Haiyan
• Lessons From Haiyan
• Key Takeaways
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3. Introducing
Cisco Tactical
Operations
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4. • 2003: Team formed to provide networking support for military operations
• 2005: Hurricane Katrina decimates Gulf region, Cisco sends hundreds of
volunteers and tons of equipment but response is not coordinated
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Many willing engineers, but few trained for the environment
Poor situational awareness
Lack of coordination
Conflicting messages confused customers
No standardized Cisco mobile platform for disaster response
• Post-Katrina, TacOps mission changed to focus on disaster response and
recovery
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5.  Product Grants
 Trained Personnel
 Support for Corporate Give-Back Events
 Accountability: Cisco annual Corporate
Social Responsibility Reports
http://csr.cisco.com
Good for the Community, Good for Cisco!
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6.  Dedicated crisis response team that establishes emergency networks
after a disaster
 TacOps personnel skills include:
Technical Expertise
Planning, Logistics and Operations
Trained First Responders (Fire, EMS)
Military Service
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7.  Disaster Incident Response Team
 Cisco employees who volunteer with TacOps during deployments
 Trained in TacOps solutions, incident command, disaster environments
 US and global presence (China, UK / Ireland, Brazil) with additional
international teams planned
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8. • Network Emergency Response Vehicle (NERV)
- NIMS Type II Mobile Comm Center
- Large scale network services core
- “Respond locally, communicate globally”
• Emergency Comm. Unit Trailer (ECU)
- NIMS Type III Mobile Comm Center
- Same tech capabilities as NERV
- “Drop and go” solution
- C-17 Airlift Capable
• Mobile Communicator Vehicle (MC2/MCV)
- NIMS Type IV MCC (with satellite, VoIP)
- Medium scale network services core
• Emergency Communications Kit (ECK)
- Rapidly deployable communications capability
- Airline checkable or carry-on form factors
• Platforms evolve as technology improves!
• Many other “tools in the toolbox”
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9. Cisco Tactical Operations Deployments
Disaster Incident Responses
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2005 – Hurricane Katrina (LA)
2007 – Harris Fire (San Diego, CA) *
2008 – Evans Road Fire (NC) *
2008 – Cedar Rapids Floods (IA) *
2008 – Hurricane Gustav (LA) *
2008 – Hurricane Ike (TX) *
2009 – Morgan Hill Fiber Cut (CA) *
2010 – Earthquake (Haiti)
2010 – Plane Crash (Palo Alto, CA) *
2010 – Four Mile Canyon Fire (CO)
2010 – Operation Verdict (Oakland, CA) *
2010 – Earthquake (Christchurch, NZ)
2010 – Gas Pipeline Explosion (San Bruno, CA) *
2011 – Flooding (Queensland, AU)
2011 – Tornados (Raleigh, NC) *
2011 – Tornados (AL) *
2011 – Tornado (Joplin, MO)
2011 – Tornado (Goderich, Ontario)
2011 – Flooding (Brazil)
2011 – Earthquake and Tsunami (Japan)
2012 – Waldo Canyon Fire (CO) *
2012 – Hurricane Sandy (NY / NJ) *
2013 – Boston Marathon Explosion (MA)
2013 – Fertilizer Plant Explosion (West, TX) *
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Disaster Incident Responses (cont’d)
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2013 – Tornado (Moore, OK) *
2013 – St. Mary’s College Fire (Leyland, UK)
2013 – Navy Yard Shooting (Washington, DC)
2013 – Typhoon Haiyan / Yolanda (Philippines)
Planned Exercises
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2010 – Golden Guardian (CA) *
2010 – Operation Hotel California (CA) *
2010 – Bay Area Urban Shield (CA) *
2011 – Bayex (CA) *
2011 – Boston Urban Shield (MD) *
2011 – DMI Vehicle Rally (CA) *
2011 – Fairfax County Vehicle Rally (VA) *
2011 – Pacific Endeavor (Singapore)
2011 – Bay Area Urban Shield (CA) *
2012 – Quake on the Blue Ridge (NC) *
2012 – Fairfax County Vehicle Rally (VA) *
2012 – Pacific Endeavor (Singapore)
2013 – Quake on the Blue Ridge (NC) *
2013 – Golden Guardian (CA) *
2013 – Pacific Endeavor (Thailand)
2013 – Bay Area Urban Shield (CA)
* = NERV or ECU Deployed
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10. Emergency Response
Tech: The Challenge
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11. Public Safety
NGOs/VOADs/
International Orgs
In complex disasters
with multiple response
organizations …
Transportation
How to deliver the right
information in the right
format to the right person on
the right device at the right
time?
Critical
Infrastructure
Healthcare
Defense
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National, State &
Local Government
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12. Evolution in People, Process and Technologies
to support Disaster and Humanitarian relief
Goal: Mission workflow
and productivity
benefits that save lives
and speed recovery.
• Radio, Phone
Radio + Integrated Mobile/Fixed Data
• Single Device
Any Device
• Voice only
Voice, Video, Data
• Closed Teams
Open Collaboration
• Cmd&Control Centric
In the field, social media, everybody
• Fixed Locations
Deployable anywhere
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13. 20 million tweets between 27 Oct – 1 Nov
2012 about Hurricane Sandy.
“Information is a basic need in humanitarian response”
– Humanitarianism in the Network Age,
UN OCHA (2013)
“…I need someone up there to get on social
media and let people know what we’re doing
here…”
– Boston Police Transcript,
Boston Marathon Bombing April 2013
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14. Hurricane Sandy
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15.  The deadliest storm of the 2012
hurricane season.
 Landfall (US) on October 29, 2012 near
Brigantine, NJ
 Second costliest storm ever ($68B USD)
 The largest Atlantic storm on record
(1,100 mile diameter)
 286 fatalities in seven countries
 Significant disruption to critical infrastructure:
transportation, utilities, aviation, Wall Street
etc.
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16.  Activated Cisco’s internal Customer Crisis Team
supporting critical customers + deployed team
 Launched response team to affected area
 Provided on-scene support to public safety
agencies, local governments, disaster relief
centers, and NGOs in the NYC and NJ areas
 Stayed on scene Nov 1 – Nov 16 2012
 Restored communications to public safety
agencies who had lost pre-storm capabilities
 Deployed new temporary infrastructure
for relief agencies
 Implemented Hastily Formed Network (HFN)
architectures for data, voice and video
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17. Tech Lessons From
Hurricane Sandy
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18.  Every emergency is local: technology
empowers anyone to organize and respond
 “Respond locally, organize globally”
 Multiple pre-existing and ad-hoc groups
joined forces to augment overwhelmed
responders
 Challenge: How do traditional responders
and agencies interface with ad-hoc or
non-traditional organizations?
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19. • Legacy POTS customers had very
long restoration times (months!)
• Flexibility of VoIP allowed quicker
recovery, even in alternate locations
• Cloud-hosted and centralized,
agency-run solutions deployed
• Proper design is important
(Backup Power, Capacity, QoS)
• “Survivable” solutions resilient to
centralized server failures
• Specific backhaul medium less critical
(VSAT, 4G, Cable Modem, T1)
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20. • AnyConnect VPN software allowed “work-from-anywhere”
flexibility (BYOD or agency-owned assets)
• ASA and Router hardware for single, multi-user sites or vehicles
• Multiple, geographically separated VPN head-ends were critical
• Agencies with specific software requirements on laptops needed
more time to deploy assets. Have these pre-staged!
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21.  Significant engagement of mobile and
online technologies by gov’t before, during
and after landfall
 Use of www.[agency].gov/sandy to
simplify agency contact point for Sandy
 Facilitated multi-way information sharing:
Government to Public
Private Sector to Public
Public to Government (e.g. FDNY “911” twitter)
Public to Public
• Rumor control & misinformation management
• The conversation happens with or without you.
You don’t control whether it happens or not.
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22. •
Sandy = TacOps’ first major experience
of video providing actionable intelligence
at a disaster
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Emerging hazard situation: on-scene fire
chief couldn’t get proper resources over
phone or radio
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Only when we put cameras on the
hazard, and streamed it to city’s EOC,
did proper resources get dispatched
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Also provided situational awareness for
personnel inside agency buildings re:
crowd situations, rising water, weather
conditions
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23. • LTE is significantly deployed in the United States
• We tested both WiMax and LTE data
communications in NYC post Sandy
• In several instances, this allowed us to move away
from VSAT = faster speeds, less latency
• Consider the use of terrestrial mobile data where
appropriate; pre-deployed as backup circuit
• Plan for contingencies, mobile network congestion,
transition back to normal operations
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24. • “Wired when you can, wireless when you must”
• Physical connection = increased reliability
• Limits password and user access
management headaches
• 2.4 / 5.8 GHz spectrum congestion
• Buildings attenuate signals
• Be prepared to deploy wired networks
early in the response!
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25. •
Phases of tech deployment (predicted):
1) HQ, 2) Field, 3) Public
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Observed deployment sequence:
1) HQ, 2) Public (BYOD), 3) Field
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Applications enabled rapid data sharing
to/from large audiences
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Most applicable for developed
populations (for now); Increasing trend
in developing countries, too, where
more people have cell phones than TVs
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Be alert for underserved communities,
those with less access to tech
(special needs / populations)
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26. • Increasing use of Ka-band VSAT
• Attractive pricing model
• Increased bandwidth
(typically 10x over Ku-band)
• Smaller terminals = more portable
• Hardware can be less expensive
• Rain-fade challenges
• Limited service provider choices
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27. Super Typhoon
Haiyan (Yolanda)
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29.  Two TacOps teams mobilized.
 Over 5,000 lbs of equipment and supplies
airlifted by Philippine Air Force.
 Teams staged in Manila
 Deployed to Guiuan, Borongan
 Tech deployed in Tacloban
 Support to Philippine Armed Forces,
Philippine gov, United Nations, NGOs
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30. Tech Lessons From
Super Typhoon
Haiyan
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31. •
Sustainability = ability to maintain and support
solution throughout duration of the incident
(response and recovery phases)
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Advanced technology is great. Who will
support it when the skilled technicians go
home?
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Consider less sophisticated, more sustainable
tech; or manage staffing accordingly
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All TacOps missions have success criteria,
support plans and transition/exit strategies
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Plan for demobilization before you deploy!
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32. •
You need a place outside of the disaster
to plan, coordinate logistics, manage
intelligence.
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It needs to be outside of the disaster zone
(normal services and infrastructure)
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Send your people and equipment to “staging,”
then send them in when you have
sustainability and clarity of tasks.
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We were able to test our gear to make sure
nothing broke on the way over.
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Getting in is easy – sustaining yourself is
harder!
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33. © 2012 Cisco and/or its affiliates. All rights reserved.
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34. Wrapping up…
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35. •
Information and Communications Technology
(ICT) in disaster and humanitarian relief must
be deployed early
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Emergency ICT teams need proper equipment,
training, processes to scale and sustain
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Consumer technology is getting less
expensive, more available, better apps, better
adoption; Leverage these trends!
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It’s all about the “5 Rights” of emergency
comms:
Right Information, Right Time, Right Format,
Right Device, Right Person
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36.  On Cisco.com: www.cisco.com/go/tacops
 Facebook: www.facebook.com/cisco.tacops
 Slideshare: www.slideshare.net/ciscoTACOPS
 Twitter: @CiscoTACOPS
 Instagram: @CiscoTACOPS
 Email: tacops-info@cisco.com
 Emergency activation contact
on our cisco.com page
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37. Thank you.
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