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Natural Disasters: Are You Prepared?
Author(s) -
Welter Gregory
Publication year - 2009
Publication title -
opflow
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
eISSN - 1551-8701
pISSN - 0149-8029
DOI - 10.1002/j.1551-8701.2009.tb02979.x
Subject(s) - backup , natural disaster , agency (philosophy) , disaster recovery , event (particle physics) , civil defense , environmental planning , environmental resource management , emergency management , cites , natural hazard , computer security , business , engineering , computer science , political science , environmental science , geography , law , sociology , social science , physics , quantum mechanics , fishery , meteorology , biology , mechanical engineering
This article stresses the importance of advance planning for disasters, and cites information from a publication titled, “Recovery Practices Primer for Natural Disasters,” a guide produced by the American Society of Civil Engineers, American Water Works Association, and Water Environment Federation under the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency‐funded Water Infrastructure Security Enhancements (WISE) initiative. The guide reviews recent utility disaster experiences to document actions that can be or have been successfully undertaken to mitigate disaster impact or expediently restore service operations. This article examines pre‐event mitigation measures for three types of natural disasters that include: river floods and coastal hurricanes; wildfires; and, earthquakes. The article provides an inset that recommends identifying critical system records and storing backup copies in a secure location, along with including drills in disaster planning for manual system operations in the event of SCADA system failures.