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The three US sponsoring bodies – the Treasury, the Financial Services Sector Coordinating Council for Critical Infrastructure Protection and Homeland Security (FSSCC), and the Financial and Banking Information Infrastructure Committee (FBIIC), on Thursday released in-depth results (PDF: 1.5 Mb) of the Pandemic Flu Exercise held in 2007.
This exercise, held from September 24 to October 12, 2007, was the largest of a number of pandemic flu exercises held for financial services across the world. Originally, over one-third of participants stated that they had not yet developed pandemic-specific business continuity plans. After the exercise 91% said they would apply lessons they learned from the exercise to their business continuity plans.
“The results of this report demonstrate the clear need for conducting this exercise,” said Treasury Deputy Assistant Secretary Valerie Abend. “Even businesses who had pandemic plans in place found that a global avian flu outbreak poses complex issues and were able to identify areas where more work was needed.”
The exercise simulated absentee rates at up to 49 percent across the country. Results, taken from over 400,000 responses, compare issues ranging from healthcare and school closings, to financial market information and industry security. All findings are anonymous. Critical infrastructures that the sector relies on were tested and issues such as telecommuting and stockpiling equipment and anti-virus medication were included.
99% of participants said that the exercise met its objectives and was useful in assessing their pandemic planning needs. As a result, the exercise “provided participants with the opportunity to examine key crisis management issues, foster strategic thinking, and strengthen the sector's overall preparedness”. The overall conclusion of the report is that while there may be significant impacts to the financial services sector during a pandemic outbreak, the US sector overall will continue to operate.
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