Subject: [NEXTEL-1] Business not ready for next disaster

From: NEXTEL-1
Date: Mon, 19 Jul 2004 16:21:01 -0400

Business not ready for next disaster

Wonder how many have a wireless communications
system backup plan in place? (See link to directory
of public warning products, services and technologies
at end of article)

Business not ready
for the next disaster

By Andrew F. Hamm
SILICON VALLEY/SAN JOSE BUSINESS JOURNAL

July 18, 2004

Nearly one in three large Bay Area companies still doesn't have adequate

disaster-recovery plans on the books, according to a survey released
this week,
potentially harming economic recovery efforts following a major
earthquake,
terrorist attack or other catastrophe.

A study funded by AT&T and the nonprofit Partnership for Public Warning
http://www.partnershipforpublicwarning.org/ppw/
estimates 33 percent of firms say disaster-recovery is not a high
priority and
27 percent say their plan has not been updated in more than a year. Only
10
percent say they changed their operational methods when the U.S.
government
raises its terrorist alert levels. (Also see
http://www.partnershipforpublicwarning.org/ppw/docs/directory.pdf

"The warning system in this country doesn't work," says Ken Allen,
executive
director of Partnership for Public Warning. "Many companies develop
plans for
one disaster, usually earthquakes, but not others."

Many companies were caught unprepared during the height of the energy
crisis
when Silicon Valley got hit with a series of rolling blackouts. Loss
estimates
ran into the $1 million-a-minute range. While most companies have
evacuation
plans in place, it wasn't until the 7.1 Loma Prieta earthquake in 1989
that
comprehensive disaster-recovery plans became popular in the Bay Area,
says Alex
Haedrich, environmental and safety director for Palo Alto-based Roche
Pharmaceuticals.

"We were told by Palo Alto officials that we would be on our own for up
to three
days during any (major) disaster," Mr. Haedrich says. "They are going to

concentrate on the hospitals and the residents before they get to work
on us."

Roche now has $200,000 in equipment and 70 people on stand-by should a
large
earthquake or some other disaster hit.

Tenants at Stanford Research Park where Roche is located meet regularly
to
discuss common interests, with disaster procedures a high priority, Mr.
Haedrich
says.

AT&T, for its part, is conducting a Bay Area-wide disaster drill July
16-18 to
test its response time and procedures to a disaster. The exercise will
be based
in Foster City.

"Business continually is one of the big things we concentrate on," says
AT&T
spokesman Gordon Diamond. "We saw a spike in interest after Sept. 11 but
it
seems to have leveled off and even dropped over time."

Interest in disaster-recovery waxes and wanes over the years, says
Margaret
Bruce, environmental programs director for the Silicon Valley
Manufacturing
Group.

"They get real interested when the ground starts shaking," Ms. Bruce
says. "A
lot of the companies (in Silicon Valley) said 'whoa' after the blackouts
hit."

Ms. Bruce philosophizes that interest in disaster recovery follows human

nature."We respond to crises," she says. "But we don't tend to think
ahead. When
we don't have to think about it, we won't."

The other thing is financial, Mr. Allen says.

Many companies looked at installing back-up electricity generators to
protect
against future blackouts. However, high costs and complexity led all but
a few
to balk at pulling the trigger.

But Mr. Allen says it doesn't cost much to develop a plan.

"Even if it is too expensive right now, at least have a plan in place
that you
can fulfill gradually over the years," Mr. Allen says.

http://www.partnershipforpublicwarning.org/ppw/docs/directory.pdf

 http://msnbc.msn.com/id/5453809/

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