Being prepared is the way to improve the situation. Businesses without one are in danger of going out of business should a disaster strike. About one-third of businesses struck by a disaster go under within three years, disaster planning experts said. Eighty percent of the businesses that were operating in the World Trade Center when it was bombed in 1993 didn't last five years. Still, only 2 percent of businesses have a continuity plan, said Carl Edmunds, president of the Association of Sacramento Area Planners.
Most people take the risk that nothing is going to happen.
It won't take much to convince Sheila Anderson, but that's because something already has happened to her business. The disaster call for Anderson, president and CEO of the Child Abuse Prevention Council in Sacramento, came earlier this month. Employees had been getting sick and the council hired an environmental engineering company to find out why. After getting the results, the environmental engineer called Anderson. Anderson managed to pay some bills, gather a staff roster and a few supplies before leaving.