2008 Third Most Expensive Year In Natural Disasters

As I sit here finally able to relax for the first time after the move my wife and I made recently, I find myself reflecting over the last year and looking ahead to 2009, as I suspect are most of you.

This is a time for me where I usually lock myself in a room and start reading reports that talk about the impact from events over the past year and of course reports making future predictions.

One such report that I have found interesting and thought I would share with you here today is the Munich Re Catastrophe figures for 2008.

The report indicates that though 2008 had less events than the previous year, 2008 also represnted the third most expensive year on record after 1995 and 2005. Note: this report accounts for only Natural disasters.

2008, also accounted for the most deaths due to natural disasters since 2004 the same year as the major Tsunami.

In the year ahead I will be working on bringing you more disaster preparedness tips, with a detailed post per week on a specific tip.

I'll also be posting an update on Varanus Island tomorrow, special thanks to Chris Miller for all of her work on this story.

Hope you all had a fabulous 2008 and May your 2009 be a safe and prosperous.

Small Earthquake Hits Near San Jose, CA. This Morning

A small 3.4 earthquake hit this morning in the Bay Area, about 8:25 AM and was in an area about 8 miles north of Alum Rock.

No reports of injuries or damage at this time.

PROTECTING YOUR BUSINESS WITH ROBBERIES ON THE RISE

With the downturn in the economy one thing is certain to be on the rise, and that is armed robberies. This year has already seen a jump in the number of bank robberies across the country. As the economy worsens and layoffs ensue, you can expect the number will rise further still.

Businesses need to be aware that the increase in robberies is inevitable and the more they deal in cash the greater the risk they face in being targeted for a robbery.

One of the things that businesses can do is to properly train employees in how to act during these instances and that it is unwise and not worth fighting over. Give the robber what they want and they are likely to remain unharmed.

Keeping the front windows clear of obstructions is also suggested since it will help to mitigate the risk of robberies since most people committing this crime want to remain unseen by others outside.

Another way to mitigate this is to have cameras mounted in the business that are clearly visible and marked. This will not stop all robberies from taking place but will keep all but the most brazen and desperate from committing the crime inside your business.

Another step that you can take to minimize the impact of a robbery is to have employees make more money drops into a safe, and keep a minimum amount of cash available. Also display prominent signs stating that store employees do not carry keys to safes and that the store has less then $50.00 in cash at any given time.

Businesses that are at a higher risk to large losses of cash or valuable inventory should consider having double enclosure entry ways where people entering have to pass through two sets of door ways that are capable of locking a person inside.

These ideas are not panaceas, but are intended to get you thinking about ways to mitigate loss and to consider the possibilities that your business may be vulnerable to such scenarios.

If you feel that your business is vulnerable, you should also consider a consultation with someone who can help you mitigate your risk in these areas.

Welcome To Our New Layout

As you can see I have updated the blog design to clear up a lot of the clutter making it easier to read, and hopefully enjoy.

I am still working out some of the bugs with the new design, and getting used to the new hosting service I am using. Though I do not expect any major problems. I am still waiting for a few changes to take effect however, and it may be a while before all areas are fully functional. Such as the Storm Pulse Atlantic Basin Hurricane tracking, but since the hurricane season should be coming to a close this is a minor problem.

In the past I have also used my blog to experiment with some other web based disaster preparedness widgets, HTML, and other goodies. On a sad note, I will not longer be using this site for what I consider to be experimental items, but will only include fully functional and useful items.

I will be using another space for "playing and experimenting" and if I do not think something should be on my blog in the side bar, I may do a post on the item and include it in the post as well.

Such an example is the new CDC widget that I am not putting up but will do a story on later next week. It is a great widget but does not fit in the layout of my new design, and it has some problems populating the data which is to me, highly annoying.

I reached out to the CDC about this and they told me that the widget can take up to 30 seconds to populate and they suggest reloading the page and also state that they have problems due to the bandwidth required to populate the widget. So, all of these things considered I will not be utilizing it on my page but see no reason why I can't pass along the information and let you decide for yourselves, but as I said I will be doing this later.

One last note, my wife and I are moving next month so the posting may be slow over the course of the holiday season as I have a lot going on, plus I have the non-profit I am working on as well which has taken up far more time than I had anticipated, and it is not even official yet.

Hope you all have a great Thanksgiving and enjoy the rest of your holiday season.