Disaster Recovery Journal

The two bombs that exploded during Monday's Boston Marathon have left many people asking "How could this have happened?" and "What could have been done to prevent such attacks?". These thoughts and questions are being heard on the radio, television, websites, and social media - essentially most people are stunned and in shock over the two explosions that killed three people and left countless others injured.

In parellel with these questions of disbelief and shock there is also a large group of people who are not as surprised or shocked. These are people who are involved in event security, event planning, disaster management, and law enforcement. That's right the very planners and organizers of such large events as the Boston Marathon, the Super Bowl, Thanksgiving Day parades - essentially any other outdoor "insecure" event - has thought about, planned for, considered and worried about an attack such as the one that occurred on Monday.

Can you tell that we're excited about DRJ Fall World 2013? Suppose two blog posts in less than a month is a hint that we're looking forward to Sept. 22-25 in the fine city of San Diego, California.

We've got a new website to go along with our new conference location. All good reasons to visit the DRJ Fall World 2013 website and get a head start on planning your conference sessions and visit to San Diego.

Hot on the heels of the success of Spring World 2013, DRJ has announced the dates and location for its industry leading fall conference: Fall World 2013.

Fall World 2013 will be in San Diego, California from Sept. 22 - 25 at the Hilton San Diego Bayfront.

Today marks a rather somber anniversary - the anniversary of the earthquake and tsunami that attacked and devastated Japan. Over 18,500 people were killed, 300,000 people were displaced and there are still 3,000 people unaccounted for. 

Along with the deaths and missing people are the residual impacts this disaster left behind: countless people are still displaced, reconstruction is slow to happen, many small business owners are still left waiting for government assistance, and questions still linger about how this disaster could have been predicted.

It is the winter and in the winter it snows. But sometimes even the most hardened, aren't ready for a massive snowfall. A snowfall that resulted in at least 1o deaths. A snowfall that crippled the east coast of the U.S. and Canada. A snowfall that resulted in traffic and travel bans through-out New England.

Yes, Nemo came fast and hard - and really we weren't ready for it. Here in Ottawa we knew the snow was coming but still people insisted on sticking to their regular routines. This resulted in a high number of traffic accidents and many stories of people getting stuck and losing power. This is not the first time we've had a big dump of snow this season - but it seems that most folks forgot what it was like to drive in such volumes of snow...

We are very happy to announce that the Disaster Recovery Journal is now available in a mobile version. Our mobile version is just like the hard-copy print edition that you read and enjoy.

Available for Android and Apple devices, Disaster Recovery Journal mobile gives you:

In the Fall 2012 issue of the Disaster Recovery Journal we focussed on enterprise resiliency - researching and writing about this topic from a range of angles and perspectives. We thought it would be useful to pull some highlights from this issue to help you to better understand enterprise resiliency and what it means for your organization.

Enterprise resiliency is not something to take lightly nor is it something that is easy to achieve. But as you'll read, there are methods and principles you can put into practice in your businesses that will go a long way in achieving true enterprise resiliency.

2012 - the year is almost over. And what a year it has been. For the DRJ community and team, this has been a busy year of planning, development and continual learning. It has been our goal, as always, to provide you with the best resources available - ensuring that you have the latest and most up-to-date information about business continuity.

We were thinking about our year and realized it would be a good idea to share with you what we think are some of the highlights for us at DRJ for 2012. Of course, we're always eager to hear from you - so please let us know if you think we've missed something from our list.

Most organizations and companies want to mitigate risk. Limit risk by making smart business decisions that enable the company to be on the leading-edge of their niche but still not in the "risk" danger zone. A fine line indeed. 

What is interesting is that so many executives, managers, team leaders, and boards of directors often tend to overlook all facets of risk. The one type of risk that most folks are focused on is financial risk: what impact on the bottom line will the decision, new product, or switch in focus have?

Despair. Anger. Frustration. Hopelessness. Sadness. Disappointment.

This is just a brief list of the emotions that folks impacted by Hurricane Sandy are feeling. It is impossible to understand what the citizens of the hard-hit areas are feeling. Many have lost everything - homes, belongings, businesses, and likely along with this - optimism.