Introduction Who are the stakeholders in the continuous operation of an information system? Stakeholders, as the name suggests, are those that have a stake in the system’s continuous operation. They may be affected by a discontinuity, or may be responsible for ensuring continuity. An information system may have a large number of stakeholders. These stakeholders… Continue reading Benchmarking Stakeholders In IS Continuity

Presented at the 23rd Annual Conference of the National Association for Rural Mental Health Grand Forks, North Dakota, August 10, 1997 In June of 1996, a wild fire near Big Lake, AK destroyed over 300 homes. A national disaster was declared and national resources became available to supplement the overwhelmed local capacity. Mental health disaster… Continue reading Managing the Mental Health Role in Disasters: An Alaska Experience

Of all the disasters President Clinton has had to declare during his tenure, he has yet to address the one which could be the largest disaster of all. There should be no doubt that he and other leaders in government and industry should consider the Year 2000 crisis a disaster of epidemic proportions and take… Continue reading The Sky is Falling

Living at latitude 45’N means winters can be almost Hobbesian — nasty, brutish, and in this case, long. But even by Canadian standards, the storms that kicked off the new year north of the border were particularly wicked, giving a new meaning to the old Bob Dylan lyric “a hard rain’s a-gonna fall.” Days of… Continue reading When It Rains It Freezes:Canadian Company Battles Northern Exposure

Three years – three major disasters, and all of them north of the 49th parallel! 1996 – The Saguenay Floods. 1997 – The Red River Floods. 1998 – The Great Ice Storm. And the uncertain consequences of the ‘Millennium Bug’ await us in 2000. Being prepared is still necessary, but not sufficient to cope with… Continue reading Canada Moves Towards A Mitigation Strategy

The Ninth Annual Corporate Contingency Planning Seminar and Exhibition was a resounding success, the best in eighteen conferences, according to the attendees, exhibitors and all others present at the four-day show. Some 1,200+ contingency planning professionals, including attendees, speakers, and exhibitors, gathered at the Sheraton Hotel and Marina in San Diego, California, for DRJ’s 18th… Continue reading The Best Conference in a Decade!

Two Canadian companies are living proof that being prepared pays off. When crippling ice storms struck last January, QL Systems Limited, a Kingston, Ontario provider of legal data, and Pictet (Canada), a Montreal, Quebec brokerage and portfolio management firm, had disaster recovery plans that got them back up and running, saving hundreds of thousands of… Continue reading D/R Plans Key to Business Survival During January Ice Storm

While many organizations have built recovery programs for their data centers and key application platforms, the balance of their enterprises, including front-line and internal service departments, are increasingly at risk. These departments, often dispersed across wide geographic areas, rely on distributed computing environments as well as traditional legacy systems to deliver services to customers and… Continue reading CIGNA Embarks On Corporate-Wide Recovery Program To Protect Critical Locations Nationwide

Over the past few months, the media has been talking steadily about the recurring El Nino and its devastating consequences on the global climate. From severe ice storms in Northern New England and Canada, to heavy rains and flooding in southern California and Mexico, it appears no one is unaffected by this record-breaking phenomenon. In… Continue reading Southern States Victims of Tornadoes, An Overview

After the relentless flooding of the Red River finally subsided in Spring of ‘97, people of the Northern Plain states, living in the 250-mile path of destruction it left behind, had only two thoughts: thanks for the readily available temporary power to help get life back to normal as quickly as possible – and good… Continue reading Northern Plain States Flooded: Caterpillar Rental Power to the Rescue