What is a Continuity of Operations Plan (COOP)? On September 11, 2024, Vibrant Hawaiʻi and Hawaiʻi County Civil Defense Agency hosted a Continuity of Operations Plan workshop for organizations and businesses around Hawaiʻi to come together and work on their COOP plan. With representatives from more than 10 local organizations and businesses, members of our Resilience Alliance were able to learn from each other, enhancing their levels of preparedness and leave with a more detailed understanding of how to better support their organization and the community.
A Continuity of Operations Plan is the effort within organizations, departments, and agencies to ensure Mission Essential Functions continue to perform during a wide range of emergencies including acts of nature, accidents, attacks, and pandemics. With this level of preparedness, organizations are able to internally ensure operations necessary to assist the community in times of disasters.
"As somebody who loves Hawaiʻi Island and is very committed to serving the people of Hawaiʻi Island, I think it is such a wonderful thing to bring all these people together in the spirit of collaboration to prepare our community for any times of disasters that come our way because it's really important that we’ll all be able to bond together in situations like that.” Christian Wong, Executive Director of the Hawaiʻi Science and Technology Museum
"We know that partnerships are critical to emergency management and meeting. Having that face-to-face introduction and familiarity with each other is critical before an incident happens. You don't want to be meeting people and looking to define people while an emergency happens. Making those contacts now, finding out what people's strengths and weaknesses are kind of gives you an idea of how you can support them and how they can support you. It's overall better business practices just to be more resilient.” Talmadge Magno, Hawaiʻi County Civil Defense Administrator
“This has been an incredible workshop. My biggest takeaway is to have a plan, a contingency plan, especially for us in the event of a cyber attack and concerns about our records are more relevant for us. The benefit of the information, but also the networking, is incredible.” Renee Godoy, President and Founder of Friends of First Responders
With pivotal organizations in one room, the Island of Hawaiʻi continues to increase preparedness to come together and assist our community in every way. Encouraging organizations around Hawaiʻi to be resilient in their efforts to support one another. Like Christian Wong put it, "Itʻs a Big Island, but a small community".
If you are a local business or organization, please consider joining the Resilience Alliance today! Building internal resilience and preparedness in case of emergency.
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