The recent floods in Queensland, Australia have wreaked a trail of devastation. As well as the immense toll on life and property, iconic sports stadiums such as Queensland's home of rugby league, Suncorp Stadium, and the home of the recently played Brisbane International, the Queensland Tennis Centre, have also been inundated with water. The sight of two of Queensland's premier sporting venues being turned into swimming pools has received a great deal of media attention, however scores of grassroots clubs have been deeply impacted by the rising waters and the toxic ooze left behind. Junior and senior cricket, rugby league, netball, tennis, rowing, lawn bowls and football clubs have lost grounds, trophies, equipment and player records to the floods.
Although disaster preparation is too late for these Queensland clubs, disaster preparation is an important topic that sports clubs around the world need to consider. While the potential disasters that may affect a club will differ dependent on the climate and location of the club, all disaster preparation plans have some common elements. Key elements to consider in preparing a disaster management plan include:
- types of disasters and likelihood of occurrence;
- insurance;
- emergency contacts;
- communication strategies;
- document and information management; and
- property and equipment protection.
Types of Disasters and Likelihood of Occurrence
The types of disasters that may affect a non-profit sporting organisation will depend on the climate and location of the club. For example, many clubs in the northern hemisphere may have to consider the potential impact of severe snowstorms and ice where for clubs in the tropical areas of Australia, severe summer thunderstorms and cyclones may have an enormous impact on the ability of the club to provide sports opportunities for the community.
Reviewing the likelihood of disasters occurring enables a sports club to determine whether they should attempt to obtain insurance or take other measures to mitigate the potential damage caused by a natural disaster.
Insurance
Read insurance policies carefully to review the cover that the organisation has for disasters. Obtain the advice of an insurance lawyer if there are uncertainties in the policy document. If the organisation is located in a flood prone or other natural disaster prone environment, it may be highly difficult to obtain insurance cover for damage caused by the natural disaster. If it is impossible or extremely expensive to obtain insurance for a natural disaster, a non-profit sports organisation may consider creating a natural disaster fund and could choose to allocate a percentage of gate takings or player registration fees to a bank account that will be used to assist the club to recover in the event of a serious natural disaster.
Emergency Contacts
A disaster preparation plan should contain details of the people and their contact information that the club will contact in the event of an emergency. This list could also contain the details of individuals who are able to assist in emergency evacuation procedures or clean up details in the aftermath of a disaster. The person that club members are to contact in relation to the effect the natural disaster is having on the club premises and grounds should also be included in the emergency contacts section of the disaster preparation plan.
Communication Strategies
Closely related to the information contained in the emergency contacts section is the communication strategies. What methods will the club use to communicate with its members, supporters and the general public in relation to the impact of the natural disaster and the effect it will have on the operations of the club. In the recent Queensland floods, social media such as Facebook and Twitter provided a method of communicating with the public when power lines had been cut. In fact even the Queensland Police Service used Facebook to communicate with the public. Bulk text messages are another method to communicate with a large amount of people in a short time. For a sports organisation facing a natural disaster it is important that communication lines remain open but that only one or two people are authorised to share information with the public and media outlets. This ensures that there is little chance of misinformation being shared.
Information Management and Property and Equipment Protection
Two important and closely related elements of the disaster preparation plan are information management and property and equipment protection. Information management ensures that vital player records, contracts and other important documentation is consistently backed up and a copy stored off-site so that in the event of an incident, the sports organisation retains a copy of the information. This can be as simple as saving all documents onto a USB memory stick and the President or Secretary of the organisation holding the memory stick.
Property and equipment protection will depend on the type of natural disaster faced by the organisation and the timeframe that the organisation has to get ready for the disaster. If there is time to prepare, the organisation may consider where equipment such as balls, bats, nets, boats, etc can be stored either in a high location or away from the club's homeground or location. Details of who will look after sandbagging and other preventative measures such as protecting windows and battening down the hatches should also be considered in the disaster preparation plan.
It would be lovely to imagine that natural disasters will never affect your beloved sports club however sadly they happen and the impact can be devastating. A disaster preparation plan consisting of insurance details, communication strategies, information management and property protection measures may help to mitigate some of the effects of a flood, cyclone, snowstorm or anything else Mother Nature can unleash.
Tracey Lloyd - Based in Australia, Tracey Lloyd is experienced in management & strategic development of community projects and non-profit ...
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