Business Operations: Emergency Preparations

Yesterday's moderate earthquake in Northern Virginia fortunately produced no injuries and little damage, although apparently the National Cathedral and the Washington Monument in Washington, D.C. sustained some small amounts of structural damage.  The quake measured in at about 5.8 on the Richter scale, and was felt over a huge area from Ontario, Canada in the north to Alabama in the south.

Probably a small number of unfortunate individuals and small businesses suffered some loss from this earthquake.  On a national scale, though, the economic impact of this event is nil.

Which causes a recollection of the massive earthquake and tsunami that hit Japan earlier this year.  Thousands perished at that time, many additional thousands had their personal lives upended in ways that will be felt for years yet to come, and the world's economy suffered greatly from the ripple effects that reached out to touch businesses in all corners of the world.

Businesses of all sizes in all locations would be doing themselves a favor if they were to look at this event as a catalyst to update their emergency preparedness plans.  Many organizations, especially the larger ones, will already be doing this; probably so, too, will large numbers of smaller ones.  However, far too many small and mid-size companies are not able to devote time and resources to activities that do not directly contribute to the growth or profitability of the business.  So, this writing is directed primarily at those business leaders of smaller companies who realize that making preparations to keep themselves in business in the aftermath of an emergency is important to the long-term success of the company, but who do not have time or staff to make a quick and comprehensive job of it.

Here is a list of design points that can be helpful in making business plans for actions that could be taken either prior to an emergency event or as a result of such an event: