In the event terrorists detonate a nuclear weapon in a US City and to a lesser degree any city anywhere, you may not be thinking much about business for quite some time.
Government planners are though working on contingency plans in the event of such an emergency.
Before the Berling Wall fell, Cresson Kearny of the Oak Ridge National Laboratory produced the manual Nuclear War Survival Skills which is available free online.
It was written to boost sorely neglected Civil Defense in the event of a full scale nuclear war.
The impact of a terrorist event using a weapon of mass destruction would be much less and not have the long lasting effects of a war, but the psychological trauma would be immense.
Likely in the immediate wake, business will grind to a halt if only for a few days. Read the article linked to above on contingency planning to see if you live someplace that may be drastically effected in an emergency of this type.
Protecting yourself and your business if you’re not in the immediate area include:
1. Redundant data back up. If you’re using an online back up service, you may want to keep a recent local copy too in case the internet is disrupted.
2. Analyze your business’ risk to the best of your ability and attempt to minimize it. Telecommuting is a standard business emergency continuity technique. If you’re a self-employed virtual assistant working through an online agency, one strategy may be to diversify your client base so they’re not all based in one city. Or if you’re in a small town that’s hit hardest by any economic crisis, perhaps you can diversify nationally through an online agency.
3. Cash emergency funds would be good to have on hand but flshing cash presents its own problems.
4. Follow Red Cross guidelines for a 3 day or longer family emergency kit
5. UPS - Uninterrupted Power Supplies for your business computers and possibly a back up generator may be worth their weight in gold if the power grid is disrupted.
5. Be a good neighbor now and become involved in community networks as well as community emergency planning such as NationalSOS. Encourage your church, synagogue or community club to be prepared as well.
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