A Post-superstorm Sandy Study Of Small Business Disaster Preparedness And Perspectives On Planning For Future Incidents

Abstract

This paper focuses on small business preparedness for disaster, after Superstorm Sandy, to determine whether the disaster experience encouraged business owners to develop contingency and disaster recovery plans to better prepare for future incidents. The methodology used for this research was a combination survey/interview of small businesses impacted by Superstorm Sandy. The survey results revealed that the majority of respondents did not have plans in place prior to Sandy and that a small percentage developed contingency or disaster recovery plans to better prepare for future incidents, post-Sandy. The interview portion of the research provided valuable insight about how these businesses dealt with the disaster, what they learned from the experience and their perspectives on contingency planning and disaster recovery.