WRK Sponsors Hole #1 at CREDC Golf Tournament
“How soon will your business reopen after an Earthquake?”
VANCOUVER, Washington July 22, 2015. WRK Engineers sponsored Hole #1 at the Columbia River Economic Development Council‘s (CREDC) 26th Annual Golf Classic. This yearly tournament brings together CREDC members to the Camas Meadows Golf Course. Proceeds from the event benefited the CREDC and the CREDC Scholarship fund. We were represented by Mike Merrill, WRK’s Operations Manager on the greens and Devin Gustafson, WRK’s Marketing Coordinator at our table on Hole #1. Devin was able to connect with players and talk about business resilience.
Gauging Public Perception
This year we collected data on the public perception of business recovery times after a major earthquake. We asked players, “How soon will your business reopen after an Earthquake?” and gave them five options to choose from for recovery time. Options included: Days, Weeks, Months, Years, and Don’t know/Don’t Care. We intentionally left the question vague to make players think about this issue and how their business would far after a major earthquake. Our goal was to encourage business owners to consider the benefits of seismic resilience and business continuity planning.
Many players expressed an urge to get back to work immediately “post event” but realized without power or communications that would be impossible. We discussed with players the current expected outages for critical services like transportation, electricity, Water/Wastewater, and telecommunications. According to the Oregon Resilience Plan and Resilient State Washington these services will take months to years to return to 80-90% functionality after an earthquake.
Analyzing the results
We received excellent feedback from many players with just under a third of all respondents assuming they would be business operational within a few days. Many of the players worked at businesses with web based operations and online data backups. These respondents said they would have to leave the area, but could still work. Others who responded in the days category included contractors and landscapers who assumed their services would be needed immediately “post event”. When we pressed them further and asked if they had a written business continuity plan none of the respondents could affirmatively say “yes.”
A more pessimistic view of resilience was cast in the weeks, months, and years categories by the remaining 69%. Some players specifically mentioned recent articles chronicling the present dangers of a Cascadia Subduction Zone (CSZ) earthquake. Although these articles are informative, they tend to lean towards potential threats posed by the CSZ and paint a bleak picture.
Thankfully, it won’t be the end of the world here in the Pacific Northwest when an earthquake hits; Life will continue. We recognize the current threat and work every day to minimize vulnerability in our region. We understand that educating business owners and the public is a key step towards community resilience. We would like to thank the CREDC for hosting a great tournament and for all the wonderful things they do in our community.
About CREDC
CREDC is a private-public partnership of over 140 investors and strategic partners. Together they work to advance the economic vitality of Clark County through business relocation, growth, and innovation.