Nature’s Tsunami Warning
An Earthquake is Nature’s Tsunami Warning so if you are near the coast and experience a long and strong earthquake, you should evacuate to high ground.
Early warning systems do not always work – so it is important to take control of the situation and ensure your personal safety.
It was National ShakeOut Day here in New Zealand recently.
ShakeOut is held across the world to remind people of the right action to take during an earthquake, Drop, Cover and Hold – and to practice a tsunami hīkoi (evacuation) if in a coastal area.
The below video is my reminder about an earthquake being a tsunami warning.
One of the learnings from the Indonesian earthquake was that the earthquake is the tsunami warning. It was sad that their early warning system was not working due to maintenance and vandalism issues. This is why it is so important to pay attention and evacuate whether there is a warning or not.
If your business operates near the coast, then a Tsunami is a great evacuation scenario to exercise your Business Continuity Plan. In this scenario your staff would need to evacuate immediately, everybody will be panicked by the preceding earthquake. There will not be time to gather belongings which will mean that the majority of laptops will be left in the office.
You could also test your Emergency Notification System at the same time. Can this be utilized with minimal access to IT to ensure all your staff have reached safety, and to advise other unaffected areas of the business?
How would your business cope in this scenario?
I have included a poster below from Civil Defense which gives more detail around when to evacuate following an earthquake.
If you want to increase your Organizational Resilience, start with preparing a Business Continuity Plan and check out BCP Builder’s Business Continuity Planning Templates.
