Business and Government Leaders Tackle Skyrocketing Disaster Recovery Costs at Historic Summit.

Business Editors

ATLANTA--(BUSINESS WIRE)--March 3, 2000

FEMA, BellSouth, Robert Rubin, Southeastern governors

address business leaders

On the heels of a record-breaking hurricane season and $8.2 billion in catastrophic losses last year, the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) and BellSouth today are hosting the first collaboration of national business and government leaders to tackle the escalating costs of disaster recovery.

The summit supports FEMA's Project Impact: Building Disaster Resistant Communities, an initiative to change the way America confronts all types of disasters. The national initiative equips communities to break out of the "damage-repair-damage" cycle by coupling prevention with business continuity planning.

At the LIFELINE: Project Impact Business Summit, James L. Witt, director of FEMA, and Duane Ackerman, chairman and chief executive officer of BellSouth, will be joined by former Secretary of the Treasury Robert Rubin. Officials at the summit will challenge business leaders and governors to partner with local communities in addressing disaster issues threatening the economic viability, safety and productivity of America's businesses and communities. Attending governors Roy Barnes (Ga.), James Hunt (N.C.) and Don Sundquist (Tenn.) will address the recent natural calamities in their states and pledge additional support for private/public disaster prevention initiatives statewide.

In addressing the importance of the summit and those involved, Director Witt stated, "The commitment of governors, high-level businesses and community leaders, affirms that momentum is building to create disaster-resistant communities nationwide. People every day are recognizing lives can be saved, damage to property reduced and economic recovery accelerated by taking action before a disaster strikes."

"BellSouth is a firm believer in prevention," said Duane Ackerman, chairman and chief executive officer of BellSouth. "With many of our customers in disaster-prone areas, our commitment starts with building a reliable network and extends to continuity planning for business customers and volunteer efforts in local communities. We hope the Project Impact initiative will help other businesses undertake prevention measures and strengthen their continuity planning, ultimately benefiting both their businesses and communities."

FEMA launched Project Impact with seven pilot communities in 1997 and today has hundreds of participating communities throughout the United States and over 1,000 Project Impact business partners. Project Impact operates on a common-sense, damage-reduction approach, basing its work and planning on three simple principles:

--   Preventive actions must be decided at the local level
--   Private sector participation is vital
--   Long-term efforts and investments in prevention measures are
     essential

FEMA estimates that every dollar spent in damage prevention saves $2 to $3 in repairs.

While hurricanes and tornadoes serve as a wake-up call for disaster planning, only 5 percent of business-affecting disasters are caused by natural disasters and 68 percent are caused by human error. It is just as important that businesses guard against negligence, sabotage and other activities that contribute to network downtime and ultimately affect vital community functions such as healthcare services. Unfortunately, nearly one-third of U.S. companies are completely unprepared to deal with any disruption or disaster.

The explosive growth of e-commerce and Internet-based business applications has placed companies at particular risk, since most organizations have failed to institute effective business recovery programs to support their Internet-based initiatives. Only one in seven companies using Internet-related business functions has an effective plan to protect Internet, intranet and extranet applications.

Communities interested in joining Project Impact should call 202-646-4622 or visit www.fema.gov/impact. More information is available on FEMA's "For the Media" site, at www.fema.gov/media.

BellSouth (NYSE: BLS) is a $25 billion communications services company. It provides telecommunications, wireless and wireless long distance communications, Internet and data services, advertising and publishing, and video and entertainment services to nearly 37 million customers in 20 countries worldwide. NOTE: For more information about BellSouth, visit our Web page at http://www.bellsouth.com

Sources of statistics: FEMA, the Insurance Information Institute and the 1999 Vulnerability Index(R) sponsored by Comdisco and BellSouth

NOTE TO MEDIA: Photo to follow.