2013 Floods – Infrastructure Substitute for Communication

Background/Overview

In June 2013, Calgary experienced its largest, most catastrophic flood since 1932. This came after days of heavy rainfall in the city and surrounding areas, more than Calgary was prepared to handle. The flood forced more than 100,000 people out of their homes and workplaces and caused an estimated $5 billion in property damage. 

Challenge

As a result of the 2013 floods, downtown Calgary was forced to shut down and was therefore isolated and impacted exponentially. Thousands of Calgarians were unable to access their homes and workplaces located in the Core of our city. Companies located in the affected areas could not resort to their usual modes of communication (e.g., office computers, company networks, etc.) due to isolation and flood damage in server rooms and electrical outages. As a result, email and other standard communication mechanisms were almost completely lost. 

The Response Approach

The Response mobile application was used in place of traditional communication methods for multiple client companies. Our platform was not impacted by significant infrastructure outages experienced during a city-wide time of crisis.

Results

• Used by major client companies of Response
• 1000 users on the app
• Supported by Tier 1 cloud services with redundant infrastructure located across North America

Contact us today to see how we can help your organization prepare for emergencies.