Terrorism and Natural Disaster Preparations (Essay Sample)

Terrorism and Natural Disaster Preparations
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Contingency planning refers to business continuity planning and emergency management for a business organization in case of a cyber attack, terrorist attack or natural disaster. . The two are critical programs for any business that plans to survive and grow after a major disaster such as a terrorist attack or a hurricane. Preparing a business plan contingency plan helps a business avert losses in case of a catastrophe scenario and reduce the recovery period.
Without a proper business plan contingency, a disaster or a crisis would leave a business in a devastating condition including its assets and employees. Due to the possibility of a terror attack, rising cost of natural disaster, pandemics, and cyber crime, it is vital for business to incorporate a contingency plan. According to Herbane et al (2004), lack to incorporate business plan contingency has left many business with huge losses following a major catastrophe. The statistics of business failures following the 911 attack in the United State, Hurricane Katrina, Wilma, and Rita, the Phuket Tsunami indicate gross and devastating impact on businesses (Bazerman & Watkins, 2004). Incorporating a business plan contingency helps to protect business employee’s facilities, and assets in case of a major disaster with a possible recovery option which has been pre planned.
Cerullo (2004), assets that incorporating a business contingency plan is a value added component plan that can aid an organization to save money and create a competitive advantage. A contingency plan is also useful during acquisition or when entering an alliance with another organization. Most business organizations are in the business to stay, thus incorporating a business plan contingency is a wise strategic move for survival and continuity of business operation. The most essential contribution a business plan contingency can provide to an organization is a clear guideline in identifying and responding appropriately to unexpected disasters. The plan aids to reduce the cost implication on an organization in case of unanticipated event. According to Laudicina (2005), incorporating a business plan contingency is not only a cost reduction move but a strategic endeavor of converting smart disaster preparedness into an organization competitive advantage. Uncertainty and risk are inherent to any organization, thus for business continuity and reducing the cost a disaster would implicate in a business, it is vital to incorporate a business plan contingency.
It is more cost-effective to mitigate and prevent loss ahead of time, which is why contingency planning is becoming vital to organizational survival. In fact, contingency planning is so essential to business success, that it can be viewed as a corporate asset with strategic business value.
The most appropriate way to determine what should comprise a contingency plan is to divide the plan into various components. The first components should cover personnel preparedness to manage unexpected disaster. This mainly covers workforce training and delegating responsibilities to various employees in case of a disaster. Work force training begins by identification of organization contingency team. The teams include the incident command team, emergency management team, personnel, logistic and computer operation. Once the teams are identified, the head or each team are assigned the role of training, the head of each team is assigned the role of training his/her team on appropriate response techniques in case of a disaster. The aim of training workforce force is to protect them from disasters (Bazerman & Watkins, 2004). The response commanders pass appropriate expertise to each team including overseeing contingency plan pre testing and final testing.
The second component in a contingency plan is the contingency coordination. This includes the response coordinators who are responsible to mitigate confusion during a disaster. The contingency coordinator heads the committee responsible for contingency planning. Coordination is critical particularly in the first minutes of a disaster to reduce confusion that befalls employees and members of the public. A contingency plan should contain a coordination plan that sets out the right personnel responsible to mitigate confusion during a disaster. The third component should detail the response capability of the organization. Identifying the response capacity starts with identification of loopholes and the main threats facing the organization. The unit managers are assigned the role of assessing impact areas and using the information to put in place necessary back-ups, implementing operation efficiency, and putting in place measures to eliminate redundancy.
The fourth component of the contingency plan should explain the chain of coordination with external organization such as healthy agencies. The plan should detail the contacts and details of the heads of surrounding health agencies who will be contacted first in case of a natural disaster or terror attack to respond to medical emergencies. The health centers should also be advised on possible casualties in case of an attack. The contingency plan should contain emergency contacts for the fire department, local sheriff and police, ambulance and paramedics, computer personnel among other disaster response teams. Time management in a disaster response is critical and should be well catered for in the contingency plan. The time limits for each response from the first moments of the disaster to the minimum time required for the business to reopen.
The sixth component explains the psychological preparedness for a disaster. Fear and panic befall employees and the public especially in the first moment of a disaster. Contingency plan should contain the Psychological first aid (PFA) training program that prepares employees psychologically and minimize psychological impact of unexpected events (Bazerman & Watkins, 2004). The last component of the contingency plan is contingency budget which is developed after measuring possible cost implication of unanticipated event which are not...