5i Hurricane Disaster Recovery Fire, Flood, Storm Oh My!

The recent California wildfires are a tragedy for those whose homes were destroyed and whose lives were upturned.

The recent California wildfires are a tragedy for those whose homes were destroyed and whose lives were upturned. The high-profile disaster has prompted a local relief effort on November 9th, 2017 at AT&T Park in San Francisco. It’s called Band Together Bay Area, and features Metallica, Dave Matthews, G-Eazy and more.

If you would like to donate to victims, you can do so here.

What has received a lot less press, however, is the major technological loss wrought by the fires. The Santa Rosa Press Democrat learned irreplaceable archives of HP founders William Hewlett and David Packard were destroyed. Correspondence, writings, and other artifacts held by Keysight Technologies were completely destroyed.

And the loss could possibly have been avoided.

Keysight claims it took “appropriate and responsible steps” to protect the archives, having put the materials in toughened boxes, protected by a sprinkler system. But that wasn’t enough, and the loss of these records from founding fathers of Silicon Valley is now permanent.

The floods in Texas also caused big headlines, but there was a big difference for Texans who lost vital documents: many official papers and vital records were relatively easy to replace, thanks to the recovery process of the Federal Emergency Management Agency.

How did that work? Simply by having personal information updated with FEMA, who kept copies electronically as backup. FEMA went so far as to publish an official list of where Texans could get official copies of lost or damaged documents. The list is amazingly detailed, and a real service for Texans who lost vital information:

Birth and death certificates:
Phone: 888-963-7111
Website: https://www.dshs.state.tx.us/vs/reqproc/default.shtm

Texas Driver License:
Phone: 512-424-2600
Website: https://www.txdps.state.tx.us/DriverLicense/replace.htm

Bank Checks, ATM/Debit Cards, or Safe Deposit Boxes:
Phone: 877-275-3342
Website: www.fdic.gov

U.S. Savings Bonds:
Phone: 800-722-2678 or 800-553-2663
Website: //www.treasurydirect.gov/

Tax Returns:
Phone: 800-829-1040
Website: //www.irs.gov

Military Records:
Phone: 866-272-6272
Website: www.archives.gov/contact/

Vehicle Titles:
Phone: 888-368-4689
Website: //txdmv.gov/motorists/buying-or-selling-a-vehicle/get-a-copy-of-your-title

Insurance Documents:
Phone: Check with your own insurance agent
Website: //insurance.lawyers.com/natural-disasters/replacing-personal-documents-lost-in-a-disaster.html

Real Estate and Property Records (Mortgage Documents, Deeds, etc.):
Phone: Contact your own agent
Website: //propertydeeds.org/lost-property-deed-replacement-procedure/

Medical and Prescription Records:
Call your own doctor; medical and prescription records are tracked electronically.

Replace a Texas Marriage Record or Certificate:
Website: //www.dshs.state.tx.us/vs/field/localremotedistrict.shtm

Proof of Address/Residency:
Website: //dps.texas.gov/Internetforms/FormDetail.aspx?Id=295&FormNumber=DL-5.pdf

Spanish Website: //dps.texas.gov/Internetforms/FormDetail.aspx?Id=2701&FormNumber=DL-5s.pdf

National Archives Records:
Website: General //www.archives.gov/preservation/records-emergency/public.html
Website: Saving family records //www.archives.gov/preservation/disaster-response/guidelines.html

Electronic backup is good for individuals—and it’s good for business, too.

Imagine your business being in line of the Northern California fires, or the Texas floods. Or downstream from a dam disaster, like the residents of the California towns of Marysville, Hallwood, Olivehurst/Linda, Plumas Lake, Gridley, Live Oak, Yuba City, or Wheatland—all affected by the Oroville dam disaster, who had to be evacuated due to the threat of a 30 foot wall of water coming their way.

More than 200,000 people were evacuated, with days passing until evacuees were allowed to go home. And there are some 1,780 ‘high hazard potential’ dams in this country—dams in need of repair, which could cause flooding and death if failed.

If you own a business—or if you are in charge of a municipal government— or if you are an HR Manager in charge of vital records– are you ready for a potential disaster?

No one thinks the disaster is coming until it is here.

If you are affected, you’ll be wishing your vital data was backed up and being handled by a Cloud Document Management system. A cloud solution can not only back up vital data, but provide complete redundancy of all operations—meaning your business or your government entity won’t lose a beat, no matter what is dished out, disaster-wise.

Ask yourself:

Fire, flood, storm, and dam failure: could your business function today if you lost your records?
What if you no longer had the ability to email?
Is your accounting system backed up?
Are your constituents and/or employees depending on you to safeguard their vital information?
What would happen if you lost your business records or client database?
How confident would your customers feel in doing business with you if they knew you only had paper records?

If thinking about this causes you to worry, that simply means you are smart. And 5i Solutions can help you to implement a smart solution, with a low-cost means of Cloud storage and backup/redundancy to protect your vital information.

Protect Your Data

5i Solutions offers Cloud Document Management Solutions.

Your data is you need is available for retrieval– instantly.
Your data is protected and stored in the 5i Cloud Vault, with encryption, network security, access logs, penetration testing, key management— total protection, total access control.
You can have complete redundancy of important operating systems in the Cloud, meaning every day of the year you can keep functioning—even if there is a disaster

No fire, flood, or storm can take away the lifeblood of your business—your vital data. And 5i will custom-tailor the solution to your current system and workflows, so it is easy to implement, easy to learn—and easy to get the protection you know you need.

5i Solutions. One single, secure point of intake, access, and storage. One singular solution.

5i Solutions, Inc.