IF YOU’RE READING THIS, we know that you survived Hurricane Irma. How about your pre-storm disaster/emergency plan? Did it survive?
We asked the question in a different way on social media five days after the hurricane and received this humorous answer from one of our Facebook friends: “More batteries and battery fans; less junk food.”
That was from an individual’s perspective — perhaps a head of household (and the humor was appreciated). How about you as a local business owner or manager? Was your disaster plan up to snuff?
Now’s the time for a disaster plan review by everyone — while the events before, during and immediately after Irma are fairly fresh in your mind.
• Did you have enough in emergency supplies?
• Did you have enough backup power — any backup power — to tide you over during a power outage (up to a week in length for some individuals and businesses)?
• Did you anticipate how quickly water and generators would disappear after the governor declared a state of emergency?
• Did you get to the gasoline stations early enough — before the price of fuel began its significant rise?
• Did you adequately harden (protect) your property against wind and rain?
• Did you have the trees trimmed away, as best as possible, from buildings and other structures?
• Did you have a place of refuge secured in the event an evacuation became necessary?
• Did you have lines of communication to your employees — to check on them before and after the storm? (Caring counts — a lot.)
• In this information age, did you have a backup for lost broadband (Internet) service?
• Is your business prepared to do business — any kind of business — when the lights go out for a significant length of time? (Irma had a significant negative impact on commerce in a several sectors of the local economy.) Was your business prepared to do business following Irma?
• In addition to your disaster plan, do you have recovery plan?
These are just a few of the questions that still can be asked a couple of weeks removed from Irma. Before the storm hit, we suggested that people review their disaster plan for “holes.” Now that the storm has hit, it’s time for a second round of honest assessment. If any holes in your plan remained, were they just tiny ones or were they of the gaping sort?
Interesting — and timely — reading: “The Complete Guide to What to Do Before, During, and After a Disaster.” Find it here.