12.14.08
MGMT 104: Disaster Preparation
The last couple of weeks, I’ve been reminded once again how important it is to have some preparations in place for devastating events. For example, if your home burns, how do you put a roof over your head? How do you get the resources needed to bounce back? Whether tornado, earthquake, hurricane, flood, or fire, a devastating event can ruin your day, your week, your month.
I was in Ohio earlier this year. Tornado warning sirens went off, but being a Californian, I did not know what they were. Fortunately, the people upstairs had a television that had a very loud set of instructions (find a room with no windows or outside walls, and stay there until the ‘all clear’ is announced). The lesson? Learn about the common devastating events in the areas where you expect to go, and the appropriate responses for those events.
You will notice that I keep referring to “devastating events”, not to “disasters”. This is intentional. A devastating event is an event that causes devastation and severe damage in your home, family, business, or employer. A disaster is a devastating event which is widespread enough that the government says “this is disasterous”. You can expect a devastating event to occur, whether it is a sewer backup that makes your home unlivable for an extended time period, a storm that blows your roof off, or a car that comes crashing into your daughter’s bedroom. These devastating events won’t usually be large enough to attract government attention, but their impact on your life and the lives of your family members and friends can be just as enormous as the impact of a large hurricane or major earthquake.
I visited the mobile home park in Sylmar where about 500 homes were burned. I can honestly say that I have never before seen such utter devastation. This is what I would imagine Hiroshima and Nagasaki looked like in 1945. Looking at that has me thinking about ways to prepare for such an event.
Although the insurance industry tends to try to get out of their obligations during disasters, keep in mind that government aid is extremely limited. Your only chance of fixing your problems is to have sufficient insurance to cover most or all of your damage. Contact your state insurance regulators to find out what coverages may be available. Be sure to ask about state or federal disaster-event coverages, such as flood insurance or earthquake insurance.
The truth is, you have to start where you are. Do you have an off-site location where you could store resources (food, water, clothing, pet food [both canned and kibble], blankets, medical supplies, money, prepaid mobile phones under a different carrier than your usual one, an external hard drive with encrypted copies of your important files on it, and both digital and paper copies of important legal documents) so you’ll can utilize them if a devastating event destroys items stored at your residence? Are your files stored in open standard data formats (such as OpenDocument Format, text, and HTML/XHTML), so that you aren’t limited to a particular software application or operating system during a really bad time of your life? Do you have money and other resources that you are not presently using and which could be stored off-site? (Money recommendation: use your locally-owned bank for most of your needs, but have a small account with a state-wide or nationwide bank just-in-case. You should not have more than $100 in cash at any time, and generally quite a bit less.)
What can you start doing to reduce the damage from a devastating event? Can you strap your water heater to the wall, so it can’t topple during an earthquake? Purchase a fire-resistant box for most of your important documents? Learn where your utility service connections are and how to shut them down if necessary. Check out federal, state, and local government websites for disaster-preparedness information. Take a look at what you have and what is around you. Look at where you are, and make appropriate preparations.
While most of the above is directed toward your personal life, the truth is, your business will also be affected by a devastating event, should one occur. And your business will have even fewer government resources available. Once again, insurance, preparation, and mitigation are key to survival.
DISCLAIMER: This is not official information from any government agency, employer, or company. These are common-sense guidelines. You should contact your state or local disaster-response agency for more information about what you should be doing to prepare for disasters.
