Lessons learned: The Dow Chemical Company

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Donna Carville, DCCarville@dow.com, Public Affairs, Louisiana Operations, The Dow Chemical Company, Plaquemine, LA 70765
How does a manufacturing company prepare and then respond to a huge natural disaster such as Hurricane Katrina? Dow's manufacturing facilities in Louisiana were impacted by the storm but its preparedness and integrated response plan worked in a way that was able to immediately address the needs of its impacted employees and restart its operations within a short period of time and very safely. Dow was also able to respond to the needs of the communities in which they are located - from loaning portable generators to the local hospital, to building temporary showers for evacuees in an evacuation center, to providing travel trailers as temporary housing for its impacted employees, to donating over $3 million to various projects and programs that are enabling the state to recover and rebuild.