Mitigating disasters using business continuity planning

Abstract

Planet Earth is prone to catastrophes such as natural disasters, terrorist attacks and industrial accidents. It is therefore critical to have plans in place that can mitigate such events. It is not just governments and citizens who are essential in disaster mitigation, businesses and corporations also play a key role in this and preparedness is better than recovery, which means that it is essential that companies have a plan in place for if and when disaster strikes in order to protect their operations. Effective planning is key as it can lead to the implementation of swift and effective mitigation strategies. At the Prefectural University of Kumamoto, Japan, Professor Nobuyuki Mochizuki is contributing to the recovery and reconstruction of Kumamoto using Business Continuity Planning (BCP). He was inspired by witnessing the destruction caused by two consecutive major earthquakes in 2016. Mochizuki's team looks at private companies and public organisations in the Kumamoto region, in order to identify real-world problems they face and come up with solutions. At the foundations of this work are companies who have survived catastrophes thanks to effective BCP. The researchers are promoting the adoption of BCP by Japanese companies in order to give them the best chance of resilience in the face of disaster and to enable them to resume operations as quickly and smoothly as possible. While focused on Japan, the work has the potential to be rolled out on a global scale, benefiting companies worldwide.