Essay Sample on Business Resiliency: Hurricane Sandy

Introduction

Hurricane Sandy will go down as the most devastating hurricane from the 2012 hurricane season. The storm was responsible for the death of 285 people that included 138 Americans before it headed north. A report by Peer of World Vision, Hurricane Sandy was responsible for $ 70.2 billion in damages (par.2). The storm affected government institutions and businesses which struggled to remain afloat after the hurricane and achieve the pre-hurricane operations.

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The government made little efforts to prepare for Hurricane Sandy's landfall. Some of the initiatives included the blocking of major highways entering New York and urged people to move away from the shore. The governors in nine states declared a state of emergency three days before the storm (New York Times par.1). They also advised for the evacuation of some 370,000 people in low altitude areas along the coast. During the storm, the government agencies struggled to rescue those who were trapped in holdouts. After the storm, the Federal Emergency Management Agency(FEMA) went in lower Manhattan to drain the underground tunnels that had been flooded. Clean up crews also worked along the coast to remove debris.

Businesses had taken insurance cover before the storm in preparation for the damages the wind was likely to cause. During the storm, most businesses owners closed their firms and asked their employees not to report to work. Many businesses remained open after the storm despite the damages they had incurred from the storm. They also stayed open to recuperate the losses they had made during the storm (Quittner par.5). Financial services such as banks, insurance agencies, and federal government funds had to prepare various financial packages for the businesses that would be affected by the storm. Some utility services had managed to conduct upgrades on their systems and equipment before hurricane Sandy. Companies such as PSEG had spent $ 28 million in the pruning of trees to protect the wires that connect the local homes and businesses (Lacey par.24). During the storm telecommunication companies tried to provide rerouting services that allowed emergency services to continue to operate. The same applied to electric supply companies which provided back up power for regions that had blown out transformers. After the storm, the utility companies spend a great deal of time to fix the broken power and gas lines.

Some individuals who live close to the coastline moved to inland regions. Other people sought shelters in schools and other public buildings such as churches. However, some ignored the warnings and ended up being trapped in holdouts during the storm. Those who heeded to the warnings remained in their homes until the storm passed. Some individuals started to rebuild their damaged property after the storm - some volunteered with the cleanup and recovery operations which were being conducted by the emergency services.

Sandy started as a tropical wave in the western Caribbean sea on 22nd October. It quickly gained momentum, and six hours later it had developed to a tropical storm. It started heading north as it strengthened. By 24th of October, the storm had upgraded to a hurricane. It made landfall in Kingston, Jamaica and re-emerged as a category one hurricane. It soon strengthened to a category two hurricane on 25th of October. It would later strengthen to a category three hurricane as it made landfall in Cuba. It emerged as a weakened Category one hurricane on 26th October as it ravaged through the Bahamas. Things appeared to be getting better as it briefly weakened to a tropical storm on 27th of October. However, things took a turn when it quickly strengthened to a category one hurricane and made a west-northwest curve. It moved near Brigantine, New Jersey as a post-tropical superstorm as it hit the rest of the eastern seaboard including New York.

Hurricane Sandy had negative impacts on business operations. Businesses suffered property damage while at the same time there were few customers. Activities such as malls and convenience stores had to close because of the risks the storm possed to the stores' merchandise and the employees. However, some companies managed to stay operational thanks to some proper disaster preparedness. It was business as usual for Atalanta food service because they had a reliable disaster recovery plan that involved virtualizing their servers and creating central storage that stores data in New York and Dallas (Delaney par. 10-11). As for the financial services such as banks, they were able to gain some good measure of gain from the hurricane as businesses and individuals scrambled for loans to rebuild. Insurance firms, on the other hand, were not so lucky as they had to make significant payouts to insurance claims from businesses and individuals.

Some of the lessons learned are that a business or an individual can never be too prepared for disaster. It is advisable for a company to take as many precautions as possible in preparations for times of turmoil. On the other hand, it is preferable for a business to spend resources on prevention measures rather than recovery measures which are always expensive. The government along with companies would have saved a lot of money if there were measures in place to mitigate the damage caused by a hurricane. For example, more resilient structures.

Six years after Hurricane Sandy and a lot have changed in the areas affected. Most of the structures that were destroyed have been rebuilt. The people that fled to other regions have returned and restored their homes. Insurance companies are more cautious in issuing insurance policies. They charge premiums as high as thirty times what they previously charged before hurricane Sandy.

Several businesses reported delays in disbursement of insurance claims and other financial aids. Notably, the issue of increased premiums attracted the attention of FEMA which scaled back on the new rules of insurance after a group of those affected lobbied with the organizations. The respective state governments have also taken the mandate to revamp their hurricane warning systems to allow people to prepare for the disaster. New York has installed charging stations with telecommunication companies such as AT&T placing solar-powered charging stations for those emergencies. Also, some states such as New York have increased the coverage of their flood evacuation zones to cover up to 600,000 more people.

Works Cited

Delaney, Melissa. "How 3 Companies Disaster-Proofed Their IT Ahead of Superstorm Sandy." BizTech (2013). Website. 16 December 2018. <https://biztechmagazine.com/article/2013/05/how-3-companies-disaster-proofed-their-it-ahead-superstorm-sandy>.

Lacey, Stephen. "Two Years After Hurricane Sandy, a Reminder of What Utilities Faced as the Storm Approached." GreenTechMedia (2014). Website. 16 December 2018. <https://www.greentechmedia.com/articles/read/two-years-after-hurricane-sandy-a-reminder-of-what-utilities-faced>.

New York Times. Prepared for Sandy. 30 October 2012. Website. 16 December 2018. <https://www.nytimes.com/2012/10/31/opinion/prepared-for-hurricane-sandy.html>.

Peer, Andrea. 2012 Hurricane Sandy: Facts, FAQs, and how to help. 18 September 2018. Website. 16 December 2018. <https://www.worldvision.org/disaster-relief-news-stories/2012-hurricane-sandy-facts>.

Quittner, Jeremy. "Where They Are Now: 5 Businesses Hit by Hurricane Sandy." Inc (2018). Website. 16 December 2018. <https://www.inc.com/kimberly-weisul/the-real-shocking-reason-women-minorities-have-trouble-raising-money-companies.html>.