<Wall Street Journal
After the Tsunami, Keys to Recovery Lie In Vanished Papers With Crucial
Files Destroyed, Finding Deposits, Proving Identity Loom as Ordeals>

Based on the video and photos we see from the region, it is probable
that not only paper records were affected by the water.  I think many
electronic records were also damaged or destroyed.  Relative to this
topic - a brief sentence in a CNN article yesterday struck me as an
example of effect even a small records/information loss can have on a
larger issue - "...determining the names of Americans and other
foreigners who were in Phuket and other Thai resorts at the time is
difficult because most hotel registration records were washed away by
the tsunami... ."

Somehow, RIM disaster planning and recovery has become my specialty over
the past few years, and I've gotten pretty good at speculating on how
certain disasters could and would affect record keeping practices and
how businesses could go about recovering or salvaging their information.
But the nightmare in Southeast Asia is truly mind boggling - the wide
spread devastation has most likely resulted in originals, copies,
backups, etc. all being destroyed at the same time.  Not only
unsalvageable, but in many cases completely washed away or so buried
under rubble and death that they will never be unearthed.

Ginny Jones
(Virginia A. Jones, CRM)
Records Manager
Information Technology Division
Newport News Dept. of Public Utilities
Newport News, VA
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