Monday, September 21, 2009

Local Businesses Learn About Disaster Resiliency



CRESA and the Local Emergency Planning Committee (LEPC) sponsored the Strive To Survive Business Disaster Resilience Workshop today at the Vancouver Hilton. 81 participants representing over 50 businesses from Clark County and SW Washington were invited to hear experts from several fields discuss the hazards and disasters capable of dramatically impacting local businesses and their employees.

The morning kicked off with "Understanding Earthquake Hazards" with authorities from The Oregon Department of Geology, U.S. Geological Survey and Bonneville Power Administration. Businesses learned about the harsh reality of the earthquake threat in the Pacific Northwest. Geologist’s presented information from the historical record and current research that concludes that our community could have catastrophic earthquakes within our lifetime or the lifetime of our children.

"Local Capabilities for Response and Recovery" were also presented with representatives from Vancouver Fire, Washington State Department of Transportation and our own resident emergency managers from CRESA.

The keynote speaker for the lunch session was Dr. Alan Melnick, Clark County Public Health Officer. Dr. Melnick presented interesting and timely information regarding the "H1N1 Swine Flu" and what our local businesses can do to boost their personal and economic survival.

Developing Your Business Continuity Plan was presented in the afternoon by continuity professionals providing each attendee access to an online toolkit to build their own plans. Washington businesses can view the DRB (Disaster Resilient Business) Tooklit at drbtoolkit.org.

The afternoon session concluded with action steps for each the business attendees on how to continue our Public/Private Partnerships for Disaster Preparedness from CRESA's own Emergency Management Manager, Cheryl Bledsoe.

John Wheeler, CRESA Strive To Survive Workshop Organizer said "We had representatives from a cross section of local large, medium and small businesses attend today. This was a great start for our first effort to support the preparedness of the private sector. We are very pleased with today's participation."
For businesses that could not attend but would like more information, please email cresa.emergency.management@clark.wa.gov.

1 comment:

Anonymous said...

This is an amazing idea. I think it would be marvelous if more communities took on something like this to educate people.

Preparedenss Pro
www.preparednesspro.com