Disruptions due to natural phenomena are far more prevalent than many individual

s and certainly companies are aware. For some inexplicable reason people appear
to be unable to retain the frequency, probability, damage, disruption and locati
on of natural disasters in comparison to other events such as terrorism or polit
ical unrest. Ask yourself, do you remember more details around the Union Carbide
leak, the Exxon Valdez spill, World Trade Center attack or the Sichuan Quake, M
yanmar Typhoon or PNG Tsunami which all singularly killed more people than the 3
prior events in total? It is perhaps due to the fact that many individuals and
more concerning companies, relies on living memory to determine the planning req
uirements and probability of natural events. The impact and frequency however is
far greater than that of most other business disruption events and catastrophic
incidents.
Over the past few decades increasing numbers of the worldâ s population have migrated
to the long-term cities and developing mega cities across the globe. It is in p
art the reason why in recent years the impact and devastation from natural disas
ters has become greater than that of years gone by. Additionally, one of the few
consensuses by experts is that the predictability and probability of natural di
sasters is still an inexact science with far more research or study required. Th
is has led to locations thought to be free of Mother Natureâ s fierce reprisals suffe
ring surprising events with often catastrophic outcomes. Further amplifying the
affects of such unpredicted incidents has been the diverse and inconsistent buil
ding or development standards engaged as cities and communities increase their e
conomic and infrastructure development. Tragically, the worst natural calamities
in recent history has been where poor preparation and standards have met with m
oderate to extreme natural disasters that most likely would have had less impact
had it hit those locations with the higher level of development and standards d
ue to their acknowledgement that they are within the accepted area of natural di
saster events.
The adoption of the term natural disaster is perhaps more applicable to manâ s respon
se and preparation to natural events. While a flood, fire, quake, eruption, wave
and wind is not indicative of a disaster, it is often the inability of governme
nts and companies to protect their assets in the wake of such events that determ
ines the true scale of a disaster. The concentration of population, insufficient
infrastructure, limited emergency procedures, poor emergency services provision
, the potential for loss of life and suffering of affected communities along wit
h extended duration of loss of acceptable living standards following the event a
ll contribute to the overall formula for determining if a natural phenomena is i
ndeed a disaster or calamity.
Planning and preparation for natural disasters is relatively simple when compare
d to other business disruption events. By using a threat-based approach and dete
rmining as many of the plausible outcomes (such as power failure, denied access
to premises, stranded commuters, etc) planners discover that many of these event
s are similar if not common with other business disruption events albeit not occ
urring simultaneously. Identifying existing resources and required resources to
mitigate or prevent negative outcomes is also a straightforward process. While t
he training and preparation of personnel is not that demanding it is important t
o ensure travelers and expats receive a more targeted and frequent training curr
iculum. The reason for this is that due to their business mobility requirements
they may be exposed to a wider variety of natural phenomena than that of the fix
ed office location, therefore requiring a wider range of information and respons
e knowledge. Furthermore, the level of support or footprint of disaster could be
significantly wider in locations of their travel than that of their location of
origin. They should also assume that a higher degree of self-assistance or vend
or support will be required when traveling, especially in developing countries a
s the government response is often generic in application, non-commercially alig
ned, minimalistic in design and hampered by inter-agency communications and lang
uage barriers.
It is becoming increasingly paramount that businesses maintain and monitor a hig
her level crisis management system such as at the country or regional level as m
any local offices are the first affected in such calamities and potentially unab
le to notify corporate support due to the failure of communication infrastructur
e. Similar planning consideration should be applied to travelers. This monitorin
g and surveillance should have both predictive and preventative intervention cap
abilities coupled with continuous activation and notification capacity. Business
es will also find that such systems result in business and operational efficienc
ies due to the elimination of false activations and failures in activation due t
o ill-perceived assumptions on whether or not the company had people, facilities
, equipment or processes exposed. Moreover, such systems will be the governing f
actor for the time taken from identification to response and the ability to pres
erve assets or prevent loss of life, damage to other company assets or continuit
y of operations.
In the wake of the global economic challenges that are resulting in many governm
ents even less capable of large scale emergency response, diminished safety and
quality standards as well as a decrease in internal company resilience at a time
when we continue to see an unprecedented change in climate, environmental hazar
ds, fierce natural phenomena and multiple large scale incidents it is possibly m
ore hazardous to people and property now than it has been in the past decade. In
dividuals should be reviewing their immediate action plans for such events, spec
ific to each location of travel and companies should be reviewing or implementin
g consistent applicable training programs for those affected personnel and asset
s. All of these tactile preparedness measures are underpinned by a wider busines
s resilience plan and allocation of resources.