Deadly typhoon forces Japan to face its vulnerability to increasingly powerful storms

Typhoon Hagibis, which pummeled Japan earlier this month and caused widespread flooding that killed at least 80, is leading the country to face some tough questions. The disaster has shown that the levees built up over decades along virtually all of Japan’s major rivers may not provide protection from the increasingly powerful storms expected to accompany climate change. Even while construction crews are working to plug the numerous breeches in river embankments, experts and government officials are debating how to prepare for future storms…

Resilience, Not Recovery

Benjamin Franklin once said, “By failing to prepare, you are preparing to fail.” This is particularly true in business, where events that threaten a company’s operations and shareholder value can occur at any time.

Traditionally, companies have simply relied on emergency and crisis response plans, but forward-looking companies prepared for potential significant events by developing a business continuity management (BCM) system, which though wise, was often done with the goal of simply recovering from a natural disaster or other catastrophe should it occur. In other words, just a slightly modified crisis management plan….