Evocative recount of post-911 New York captivates RMAA audience

Sep 13, 2005: The heartwarming story of how businesses in Lower Manhatten got their operations and their lives back together in the wake of the 9-11 attackscaptivated delegates on the second day of the 22nd RMAA (RecordsManagement Association of Australasia) International Convention, takingplace in Perth.

Robert and Alison Simko, proprietors of a local newspaper based justacross the street from where the attacks took place on September 11, 2001,recounted the stories they had printed in their broadsheet title of howbusinesses got their systems up and running again through well planneddisaster recovery measures, as well as some of the stories about some ofthe not so lucky ones whose data was lost forever when the twin towersfell.

Robert Simko told the audience that while the events of 9-11 caught thecity unawares and inadequately prepared to deal with such a catastrophy,measures had since been put in place by the authorities, as well as thelocal residents, to make sure that they will be ready should - heavenforbid - such an act was meted out to the city in the future.

"A CERT (community emergency response team) has been established byordinary citizens, who have gone through training in emergency evacuationprocedures and first aid. We collectively vowed never to be under-preparedagain."

He also told of the contrasting fortunes of two major banking organisations, one which had a fully tested DR (disaster recovery) system in place, and another which did not, to emphasise the importance of securing data.

"Deutsche Bank had a connection to a remote site across the Hudson Riverin New Jersey which was fully operational within four hours of the towersfalling, while another bank was put out of commission for a much longerperiod and lost billions of dollars as a consequence."

Iain Freeman, of legal firm Phillips Fox, followed on from the Simko'spresentation with a somewhat less captivating - though no less important -talk on privacy and copyright issues around records management.

"Records management in the electronic era raises many interestingquestions involving copyright and privacy that must be grappled with,"stated Freeman.

He went on to stress the importance of adherance to the Privacy Act bythose organisations and agencies involved in the collection and managementof data.

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