The Waffle House Indicator: how to distinguish crisis levels in an area hit by disaster
01/18/2012
“The private sector is changing,” FEMA Administrator Craig Fugate told the opening session of IDCE2012, now in its second day at the Ernest N. Morial Convention Center in New Orleans. “Businesses are no longer passive (in the aftermath of a disaster). They’re not waiting for an authoritarian voice to tell them what to do. They understand that if they don’t get back up and running they will lose their customers to their competitors who do.
“We made the assumption that the government has the solution, but the private sector has left us in the dust.”
To illustrate, Fugate explained what he called the “Waffle House indicator.” He noted that in working through disasters in various areas, FEMA noticed that the first businesses back in operation after a disaster were typically Waffle House restaurants.
“If we got into an area and the Waffle House was open, then it wasn’t that bad. You keep on moving. If you get there and Waffle House is not open, then it’s bad. Stop there and go to work.”
