Tokyo, August 31, 2011
Fujitsu today announced that, drawing on lessons learned from the Great East Japan Earthquake, it will implement group-wide disaster response drills on September 1, 2011. Given the increasing risk in recent years of a major earthquake hitting the Tokyo metropolitan area, the drills are based upon a scenario in which the Tokyo metropolitan area suffers significant damage. The drills are designed to practice the initial actions to be taken by a contingency disaster response headquarters established in the Kansai region of Japan, should such circumstances occur, as well as those of group company offices affected by such as a disaster.
Based upon a review of its response to the Great East Japan Earthquake, the Fujitsu Group has created a disaster response plan with revised measures. The drills envision a scenario in which the Tokyo metropolitan area suffers significant damage, resulting in power outages and communications disruptions that prevent phone (including mobile phone) and e-mail (including mobile e-mail) communications between offices, and are designed to test the ability of the contingency disaster response headquarters in handing this situation. Using a system designed for sharing information on the safety of group employees and measuring the extent of damage to facilities and equipment, as well as a system for verifying the damage sustained by customers, Fujitsu will practice the quick establishment of an internal recovery organization. Furthermore, at the same time, Fujitsu will practice the process of providing customers with recovery support for their ICT systems by quickly mobilizing support personnel for customers throughout Japan.
These drills will promote a shared awareness of proper disaster response measures with respect to organizational coordination for the Fujitsu Group as a whole in the event of a disaster, while creating a strong organizational structure for disaster prevention and promoting enhanced business continuity capabilities.
Overview of the Drills
1. Establishing response headquarters for each Fujitsu Group unit and practicing emergency responses to an earthquake in the Tokyo metropolitan area
There are 98 Fujitsu Group companies with 260 locations within the imagined disaster area, and each will run drills based upon a presupposed level of earthquake damage. Management from each of the participating units has devised their own scenarios based upon a practice planning workshop organized by the Fujitsu Research Institute. On the day of the drills, designated personnel from each unit will practice responding to the disaster.
Each unit will report its responses via satellite mobile phone or MCA wireless(1) to a contingency disaster response headquarters established in the Kansai region of Japan. They will also practice sharing and organizing information using CRMate, a SaaS-based information collection system offered by Fujitsu and actually used during the Great East Japan Earthquake.
Furthermore, in response to a scenario in which injuries are sustained by personnel from Fujitsu's Nasu Plant (Otawara City, Tochigi Prefecture) and Fujitsu Tohoku Systems Limited, those units will practice transporting the injured via stretchers and practice the use of AEDs.
At Makuhari System Laboratories (Mihama district of Chiba Prefecture), where many employees experienced difficulties returning home immediately after the Great East Japan Earthquake due to ground liquefaction, drills will be run on preparing on-site accommodation for employees who must remain on site and for those who will commute by foot if they live within walking distance.
For the approximately 80,000 group employees based in the disaster area, drills will be run to test emergency contact systems and systems to verify the safety of employees.
2. Verifying Business Continuity Plans and Practicing Recovery Support for Customer Systems
Based on its review of the company's response to the Great East Japan Earthquake and placing importance on actions in the immediate aftermath of a catastrophe, Fujitsu devised a new detailed disaster response plan. These drills are designed to verify the roles and procedures of the response headquarters immediately following a disaster and improve emergency response capabilities.
Reflecting its business continuity plans, Fujitsu Semiconductor Limited will run a drill involving a scenario in which its head office (Yokohama City, Kanagawa Prefecture) sustains damage necessitating disaster response functions to be transferred to the Mie Plant (in Kuwana City, Mie Prefecture), where it will carry out activities such as collecting information on the extent of damage sustained by the disaster and implementing continuity measures.
Fujitsu FSAS Limited will practice transferring to the Kansai region its technology support and call center functions that are currently concentrated in Tokyo. It will also practice implementing recovery support for customer ICT systems located in the Tokyo metropolitan area. Drills will also be run on transporting emergency resources, required in customer support activities in the Tokyo metropolitan area, by helicopter from the Tokai Branch Office (Nagoya City, Aichi Prefecture). These resources will be sent via the Nagoya Airport to the Atsugi Laboratory (Atsugi City, Kanagawa Prefecture). Preparations will also be made for systems recovery processes.
As a part of a campaign to help customers understand the importance of disaster preparedness, Fujitsu Limited, in conjunction with Fujitsu FSAS and 81 maintenance partner companies, will visit approximately 5,000 customer companies to explain the Fujitsu Group's support activities and organizational structure in the event of a disaster. Customers will be provided with materials that introduce the disaster prevention initiatives of Fujitsu Limited and Fujitsu FSAS, and evaluate customer systems on disaster-preparedness.
Fujitsu Initiatives in Disaster Prevention Drills
This marks the sixteenth time in which the disaster prevention drills will be executed since being initiated in 1995. As of 2008, Fujitsu has employed the expertise of the Fujitsu Research Institute, which has a record of providing consulting services for business continuity management to the Fujitsu Group and outside customers. Fujitsu Research Institute has been implementing disaster prevention drills designed to continuously improve the disaster response capabilities of the Fujitsu Group as well as Fujitsu's ability to rapidly recover support to customers.
