09/08/2021
✨Economic Resiliency After Disaster Strikes✨
“Visiting New Orleans last week and departing just before Hurricane Ida made impact was eerie. We had the unique opportunity to be firsthand witnesses to the practicality inspired by the looming disaster. The energy tangibly shifted from busy and bustling tourist hub to somber and ominous. We watched the concern of citizens had, and what preparations were being taken to potentially lose everything they have worked toward.
Ida hit on the 16th anniversary of Hurricane Katrina, and in New Orleans hurricanes have created their own culture. Sitting at a diner counter on Friday for lunch in the French Quarter, I watched a waitress and the owner stock things up high and prepare for the water to rise. Although unfamiliar to me, the shared tasks were common knowledge amongst New Orleanians. It was somber but practiced.
I was immediately struck with realization of the complacency many of us have by not having a disaster plan. New Orleanians are experts in disaster preparation, but even with their obvious competency, what items did they not prepare for? We have plans for everything but not the unplanned events.
Being an out-of-town observer allowed me to raise the question: how do the natural disasters of wildfires, tornadoes, hurricanes, earthquakes, floods, ice and snowstorms impact us economically? FEMA estimates that nearly 40% of all small businesses fail to reopen after being hit by a natural disaster. In 2017 storms, fires, floods and heat created over $306 Billion in Destruction determined by Eastern Kentucky University’s Online Safety, Security & Emergency Management Program.
Almost 75% of small businesses don’t have a disaster plan in place and of them 60% of small businesses that do reopen after a natural disaster 52% say it would take 3 months to recover. These statistics raise another question, how can we better prepare ourselves for the inevitable set back?”
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https://www.linkedin.com/pulse/economic-resiliency-after-disaster-strikes-frank-tate