Recovery and Rebuilding

By: Dr. Teo A. Babun, Jr., AmericasRelief Team

Disasters impact port operations, disrupting the supply chain of goods and services and making it difficult to respond to humanitarian needs and economic recovery. Recent catastrophic experiences, such as the earthquake in Haiti in 2010, continue to remind us that ports are crucial lifelines to vulnerable populations during disasters. 

by Shane O'Connor, Program Advisor, FedEx Global Citizenship

On March 21, 2012, the Disasters Roundtable of the National Academies hosted a workshop to facilitate the exchange of ideas among scientists, practitioners, and policymakers to identify issues related to the understanding and mitigation of natural, public health, technological, and other disasters.

I recently attended an event in Tulsa, OK called A Day without Business.  This was the intriguing title of an event that asked business owners to consider what they would do if their businesses were interrupted for a day (or longer) due to a disaster.  Expert speakers from the areas of insurance, IT, public health and disaster recovery presented tips and ideas. 

It’s perfectly understandable why disaster preparedness might not be a front-burner issue for most small business owners. There are customers to meet, employees to manage, bills to pay.  But time and time again, it’s been proven that pushing the subject to a back burner is a recipe for disaster.

As a company that is committed to helping small businesses succeed— and as a nonprofit organization for which disaster preparedness, relief, and recovery are strategic priorities — Office Depot and the Office Depot Foundation uses a variety of channels to communicate this message.

Ken Sternad is well known in the disaster management profession. As head of the UPS Foundation since 2009, Ken has overseen the foundation’s strategic re-focus to areas more closely aligned with the company's strengths and interests. These include urgent humanitarian relief, road safety, environmental sustainability, diversity, and volunteer capacity building for the nonprofit sector.

This weekend, towns throughout the Midwest and South were hit by tornadoes and damaging storms. Inevitably, many businesses throughout the region are now coping with damage to their buildings or infrastructure, and wishing they had done more in advance to prepare for the unexpected.

FEMA has been to America’s most shell-shocked communities. In the critical hours and days following a presidentially declared natural disaster, roads are impassable, communications are down, residents aren’t sure what to do, and area business owners/operators feel unsure about what the future holds for them.