Anthrax, terrorism, hurricanes, floods and wildfires have devastated communities and disrupted or destroyed businesses from New York to New Orleans and from California to Florida.
And many Baltimoreans remember getting slapped around by Hurricane Isabel in 2003 as it marched up the Chesapeake Bay to Baltimore?s Inner Harbor, packing enough punch to flood the World Trade Center and displace 60 companies.
If that wasn?t enough, Sept. 11 pushed many companies to realize they need disaster and recovery plans to salvage their business in the wake of a crisis, said Daniel Sadler, president of the recently created Central Maryland Chapter of the Association of Contingency Planners.
His group will be meeting Wednesday at Baltimore Technology Park, which opened in April to offer companies a place to establish back-up data centers, among other uses.
“Every business needs to have some sort of plan to stay in business after a disaster,” said Sadler, who handles contingency planning for Constellation Energy Group.
“They need a step-by-step plan that deals with multiple scenarios.”
He said most Fortune 500 companies have back-up buildings ready to be occupied should disaster strike.
The central Maryland chapter started on Sept. 14, 2005 with about 18 members and has since grown to include over 54 Maryland area business, charities, government officials and even some school districts, according to the group?s Web site.
Among the group?s members are T. Rowe Price, CareFirst and the American Postal Workers Union Health Plan.
Sadler said businesses must first focus on taking care of their employees in an emergency and, more importantly, taking care of the employees? families.
“Everybody knows that if your family is not taken care of, you?re not worried about work,” Sadler said.
Baltimore Technology Park recently joined the Maryland chapter, said Jeana Chaffin, director of product marketing for the Park.
She said more businesses are opting to tap the Park for their offsite data back-up needs.
“We target business in Baltimore who may be looking for a disaster recovery site,” Chaffin said.
“Instead of them building a site, we can provide the proper environment and the client can put in the equipment.”
