Public-Private Alliances to the Rescue

Many companies are realizing that they can play a crucial role in helping communities recover from natural catastrophes

by Rachael King

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Flood survivors need bleach; the chemical compound is essential for purifying water and disinfecting contaminated surfaces. But well-intentioned donors often don't know that. And in the rush to help in the first days after an inundation, they typically send items like clothes that aren't vital—and can even hamper relief efforts.

The need to disseminate—and act upon—that kind of myth-busting information in a disaster's wake fueled the formation of the Aidmatrix Foundation, a nonprofit group that uses information technology to ensure donations are quickly dispatched to those in greatest need. "In a disaster, generally about 50% of volunteer time and transportation are because of things not needed in the system," says former Wisconsin Governor Scott McCallum, Aidmatrix's CEO.

The foundation pooled its own resources with funding from UPS (UPS), Accenture (ACN), and the Federal Emergency Management Agency to build a software program that would help match donations with needs. Officials in the Midwest later used the software to handle donations that poured in after floods ravaged the region in June.

Business Lends a Helping Hand

Aidmatrix is indicative of the kinds of public-private partnerships that can flourish in a world where large-scale natural disasters are becoming commonplace. Large corporations are adept at resuming their own operations after a disaster, but experts say that's not enough.

Businesses should—and increasingly do—use their technological expertise to help rebuild cities, states, and even nations racked by flooding, fires, and hurricanes. "If the community around an organization fails to stand back up and resume operations shortly after the disaster, it doesn't matter how good your individual plan is," says Lynne Kidder, senior vice-president for regional partnerships at Business Executives for National Security. BENS, as it is known, is an organization that helps create public and private partnerships to aid in dealing with catastrophic events.

Put bluntly, a company can't fully bounce back unless its customers and employees do. The connection wasn't lost on Shell Exploration & Production in the months following Hurricanes Katrina and Rita. About 70% of Shell's oil and gas production occurs off the U.S. Gulf Coast, and in the interest of helping revive the region, the company began a multimillion-dollar social investment program called the Coming Home Campaign. The company sponsored the 2006 New Orleans Jazz & Heritage Festival, which it says resulted in $250 million in economic activity; it donated more than $750,000 to help police officers and volunteers obtain housing; and gave employees as much as $1,000 apiece to support neighborhood rebuilding and recovery efforts.

Greenhouse Gas Effect

The need for companies to get involved in community recovery efforts will only rise. Droughts, heavy downpours, excessive heat, and intense hurricanes will become more common as the concentration of heat-trapping greenhouse gases rises, say researchers at the U.S. Climate Change Science Program. The number of floods has increased sixfold since 1980, according to a November report from the aid agency Oxfam International. Natural disasters more generally have quadrupled over the last two decades, the report says.

Few have been as devastating as Katrina. But its impact was blunted at least partly by efforts of companies including Wal-Mart (WMT), the world's largest retailer. In the days before Katrina made landfall, Wal-Mart executives huddled in a company emergency command center and used hurricane-tracking software to follow the storm's progress.