Bird Flu Worries In India

Reports of fever spreading to over 2300 people of the Birbhum district in India has many people worried. The area is a hot spot in a bird flu outbreak.

In an official statement from the government, state director of health services, Sanchita Bakshi said; "There is no need to panic. We do not have any reports of humans being infected. Therefore, a few hundred fever cases means nothing.”

More on this story here.

CLOVERFIELD

Well I went to see the movie CLOVERFIELD yesterday. Overall I thought it was well done.

I am including a widget from the site here promoting the movie but they also have a quiz, that includes disasters so it fits well with the site.

Business Continuity Workshops and Conferences in Australia

Though we mainly focus on business continuity here in the United States, I just want to make a quick note to let about some business continuity events in Australia in February and March. I may add other dates from conferences around the world as time goes on.

On February 6th 2008 in Melbourne, there will be an Advanced Business Continuity Management Workshop. This course was developed to further enhance the knowledge of the experienced business continuity practitioner. Please see the link for more information.

On March 5 2008 in Sydney, there will be a Crisis Management Workshop. Refer to link for more information.

On March 18 2008 in Sydney, there will be a business continuity conference. One of the topics discussed will be Climate Change, please refer to the link for more information.

Proper Business Continuity Planning Means Planning For The Unexpected

One of the most important things you can do for your business is to have a business continuity - disaster recovery plan.

Businesses from the smallest home office to the largest enterprises with multiple locations need to have these plans in place to ensure continuity of operations should a disaster or emergency happen.

One of the things I am sometimes asked as a consultant in this area is "how can I protect my business from ___________" (fill in the blank with your own choice of disaster type). The problem with this is that you can not predict effectively what disasters you will be affected by. In other words, if you pick and choose what specific disasters you prepare for you can be caught off guard by the unpredictability of life.

Ultimately what you should do is create a plan that can effectively mitigate any situation that your business may face.

As an example I am going to use the scenario of a deer running into a store and causing damage to the inventory and scaring the customers that are inside. Now most people would not even consider this as something that could happen to them, but as you will see below this is something that can and does happen.

This is why when you create a COOP (Continuity of Operations Plan) it needs to contain enough information that people will know what to do If... and, What to do When something unexpected happens. Instead of what to do only when specific events occur.

Three Deer Enter Store In PA (The owner said almost all items in the store were damaged, and he lost a lot of money since he will have to sell everything at a deep discount).

One Large Deer Enters Large Department Store

BREAKING NOW...BOMB BLAST in Lebanon

The Blast occurred near a U.S. Embassy car, At least three were killed. More to come later today on this.

UPDATE:::::::

Four were killed in this blast and approx 16 were injured as of this update. NO AMERICANS were killed or injured in the blast but they were the target.

Video from the scene by the BBC, more on the story here.