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Natural disasters are inevitable. We can’t prevent them, but we can greatly reduce their impact through training, research and preparation. Well-before disaster strikes, there is a great deal of behind-the-scenes effort that occurs between government agencies and private-sector partners to ensure that affected communities have the necessary resources and support to sustain themselves.
Atlas takes its commitment to our customers seriously and undergoes extensive training to ensure we’re able to quickly react to any natural disaster that presents itself. We closely monitor weather patterns, hurricane forecasts and storm radars, keeping our team prepped and ready to jump in when our customers need us most. Our team of emergency fueling experts stay on call 24/7/365 to ensure that our equipment is ready to deploy at a moment’s notice. Throughout the year, we maintain this readiness by hosting a multitude of terminal-wide training sessions and have deployment kits prepped and ready for drivers to take with them into disaster zones.
This June, our dedicated Emergency Fueling team participated in Shaken Fury, a 10-day national-level emergency response and recovery exercise hosted by the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA). The multi-phased exercise simulated a no-notice 7.7 magnitude earthquake occurring along the New Madrid Seismic Zone near Memphis, Tennessee, which also affected the surrounding states: Alabama, Arkansas, Kentucky, Mississippi and Missouri.
This earthquake was staged to have had a debilitating impact across all community lifelines including communications, transportation, energy, safety, security, health and medical , hazardous waste, and food, water and shelter infrastructure. Established to enable continuous operation of government functions and critical business, lifelines help key decision makers to rapidly prioritize response efforts. Unstable lifelines pose serious risks towards the livelihood of the surrounding community and potentially, at the national level.
In the area that Atlas’ Emergency Fueling team focused on for Shaken Fury 2019, more than 6.7 million were projected to have lost power. Critical facilities including hospitals, schools, fire stations, chemical manufacturing and wastewater treatment were severely damaged, resulting in various structural collapses. Evacuation had been impeded due to severe damage to surrounding airports, roadways and railways. With all these factors in mind, this earthquake would have caused more than 25,000 casualties and upwards of 1,000 fatalities. Throughout the 10-day period, the team worked to restore affected lifelines and develop detailed recovery plans.
Both in mock exercises and real-life scenarios, it’s in Atlas’ DNA to charge towards the storm and face it head on for our customers. While most are trying to flee the scenario, we’re sending in our dedicated fleet of StormProof trucks to help restore the affected community. Our diversified supply, nationwide fleet and extensive carrier-partner network can quickly source and bring in product from outside of the disaster zone to ensure that operations stay up and running.
Atlas will continue to participate in the annual Shaken Fury exercise and other preparatory scenarios to ensure that we’re always ready to help our customers withstand the storm. To learn more about our fuel assurance programs and 100% uptime guarantee, visit www.atlasoil.com/emergency-services.