CRISIS, P.2

One last thing: Tell residents to phone or e-mail the designated point-person with their contact information as soon as they’ve settled into their temporary abodes.

2) Coordination

You'll need to coordinate with the residents and the emergency-response personnel. To do this, have a prearranged rallying point – a nearby spot that you’ve previously designated in your emergency-preparedness communications plan. Even if it’s just a street corner, this point will be your own command center where board-members, the managing agent and the building staff can gather, share information and make decisions.

“It’s very important that you take the initiative during those first few hours,” says Harry Smith, Gumley Haft’s director of management and managing agent for The Cumberland House – a 15-story, 100-unit co-op at 30 East 62nd Street that was damaged when a deranged man blew up his townhouse next door.

H ave one person be the liaison with the police and fire departments. “Instead of 50 people going up to the chief with questions, designate someone to work with the first responders,” advises Mike Virgintino, a spokesman for American Red Cross in Greater New York. “A liaison from the board can say, ‘I’m representing the residents of this building. What can I do? What information can I give you?’”

The board president needn't personally lead his troops, but he or she does need to make sure a designated point-person is there and active. The same applies to managers. Smith, for example, says he had to become “like a mobile command center. I was in the lobby, on the sidewalk, coordinating what I had to coordinate with my cell phone, with my super doing the same thing. We were touching base periodically throughout the day.”

3 ) Calm

Keeping active is a way to keep everyone calm – the third C. “Adversity has a way of paralyzing us,” says Colan. “We have to keep moving. It’s easy to panic if you don’t have something specific to do."

Mobilize people with specific roles," he advises. "Instead of saying, ‘Help out and pitch in,’ say, ‘Jack, start a phone tree. Jane, you know first aid, do this.’ Specific roles and responsibilities help prevent panic. If people are engaged in the solution, they’re less likely to be paralyzed by the problem.”

Adapted from Habitat November 2007. For the complete article and more, join our Archive >>

Illustration by Dave Bamundo