Category Archives: Disaster Recovery

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Life Cube: Disaster Response Thinking Inside the Box

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A large structure stands out on the exhibition floor at the World Conference on Disaster Management, enticing virtually every attendee wandering around to poke his or her head inside. Directly next to it is the same structure in different form, this one a 5′ x 5′ x 5′ Lego-looking cube on wheels that draws people over to give it a roll.

Half-disaster shelter, half-Transformer, they call it the Life Cube.

And given its design it is one of the more innovative, comfortable and convenient temporary dwellings that anyone arriving on the scene of a disaster could hope to call home. It’s waterproof, fire-resistant, able to stand up to 70 mph winds and comes equipped with a hard plastic floor (which is a true luxury), bedding, a portable toilet and a solar panel-powered master console/table that has a stove, AM/FM radio, CB and a phone charger. And it goes from its cube state (which can fit into the bed of a normal pickup or be stacked on a flatbed or carried by a forklift) to its fully inflated command center state in under five minutes.

Nice digs if you can get it.

This tricked-out model starts at around $14,000, I’m told, although a more basic version can be purchased for as low as $9,000 and custom orders with even more gadgets could get as expensive as your imagination allows.

Heck, throw in a flat screen and it might be nicer than my New York apartment.


Easy as one, two, three.

What Is Resiliency?

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When it comes to disasters, prevention is of course better than recovery. But the real world is not paradise and catastrophes will occur. That inevitability means that how companies are able to respond and bounce back might be the most important aspect of disaster management.

Nobody’s perfect — but everyone can be resilient.

But what does that mean? What is resiliency?

Michael Collins of Argonne National Laboratory is helping define it for communities across the United States. And today at the World Conference on Disaster Management in Toronto, he discussed how, along with the Department of Homeland Security (DHS), his agency has been tasked with sending officials throughout the nation to assess how each area stacks up. Ultimately, the goal is to compile an objective, quantitative, comprehensive database so that the government — federal, state and local — has a baseline against which municipalities can be compered. It is an in-depth, long-term project that will greatly aid both DHS and FEMA in determining how communities can become more resistant to disasters.

So far, the “resiliency index” they are developing remains in its infancy. We will bring you more on it in the near future as I flesh out more of the details and get the opportunity to speak with Collins directly.

But as they continue to push things forward, let’s first look at a few of the definitions that Collins shared today in his presentation on what resiliency really means.

“Our goal is to ensure a more resilient nation. One in which individuals, communities and our economy can adapt to changing conditions as well as withstand and rapidly recover from disruption due to emergencies.” – Barak Obama

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“The capability to anticipate risk, limit impact and bounce back rapidly through survival, adaptability evolution and growth in the face of turbulent change” – Community & Regional Resilience Institute

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“The ability of individuals and communities to deal with a state of continuous, long term stress; the ability to find unknown inner strengths and resources in order to cope effectively; the measure of adaptation and flexibility” – Michael Ganor

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“The ability of community members to take meaningful deliberate collective action to remedy the impact of a problem.” – Building Resilience to Mass Trauma Events

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“A sustainable network of physical systems and human communities, capable of managing extreme events, during disasters, both must be able to function under extreme stress.” – David R. Godschalk

Risk Management in the News

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It’s a busy Monday morning for news regarding risk management. Here, I have compiled a snapshot of a few current events taking place within the discipline.

  • The Catch-22 of Supply Chain Risk Management: Steven Banker of LogisticsViewpoints.com tells how all of the things that can make for a lean and mean supply chain “can also cause a supply chain to become brittle and break in the face of disasters.” Banker uses the Japan earthquake and Toyota as an example.
  • ERM Supports Disaster Recovery Plans: Educational sessions at the 32nd annual Public Risk Management Association’s conference focused on how an enterprise risk management framework provides significant support for municipalities planning disaster recovery, business continuity and resiliency strategies.
  • Risk Management Needed to Prevent Future Food Scares: Focus Taiwan News Channel recounts how “public health scholars on Friday urged the government to devise a comprehensive food safety and risk management mechanism, including the regulation of chemical substances, to prevent more food scandals from happening in the future.”
  • Microsoft Buys ERM Software Vendor: The tech giant purchased enterprise risk management software vendor Prodiance “to add more compliance functionality to Microsoft Office.”
  • Reporting Key to Competent Risk Management: Risk.net reports how Eric Caban, an examining officer in the operational risk governance team at the Federal Reserve Bank of New York, warned that even though reporting is the key to competent risk management, it is often the area that is given the least amount of attention.
  • IMA’s Move on Managed Sectors May Help Risk/Return Approach: On MoneyMarketing.co.uk, Stuart Fowler discusses the flaws in conventional balanced management and why society welcomes the IMA’s provocation.

RIMS President Urges Members to Give to Japan

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As stated on the RIMS homepage, the Risk and Insurance Management Society’s president, Scott B. Clark, is urging members to give to Japan as the country works to slowly bring itself back to pre-earthquake and tsunami status. Clark was in Japan when the quake hit and felt first-hand the power of mother nature over seemingly helpless humans.

When the earthquake hit, I was in Tokyo, having just arrived to attend the Japan Chapter of RIMS’ annual meeting. My partner, Peter, and I were with Yoshi Hamaji, president of the Japan Chapter, when the quake struck and at the time, we didn’t realize the extent of the tragedy. As we were able to receive news updates and the true extent of the devastation became clear, it was difficult for us, as for the rest of the world, to comprehend.

Experiencing such a tragic event would touch anyone on a personal level, as it has Clark. Feeling the need to do something about it, he has asked each RIMS chapter to match his chapter’s (RIMS Greater Miami) donation of $1,000 to the American Red Cross’ relief efforts in Japan.

Click here to read more of Clark’s writing about his experience in Japan and his call to action.

Click here to go directly to the American Red Cross donation page.