Ensuring Emergency Preparedness During Times of Scarce Resources

By E. Francis Mercado, Emergency Preparedness Desk

“There’s no low-cost emergency,” says Mr. Sarig, as he explains in an interview by Arc Media Global Center for Business Strategy and Tactics on 22 June 2009 at Grand Copthorne Waterfront Hotel, Singapore.

“It’s easy to use the economic downturn as a reason for not investing in emergence preparedness. But it will turn out that such activity will actually be more costly in the long run, especially in an unexpected turn of events.”

For Ben-Gurion International Airport, cited as one of the safest airports in the world in its size and category, investing in emergency preparedness is a key priority, aside from keeping the airport profitable. In fact, it’s probably one of the fewest airports in the world that has the General Manager also heading up safety and security.

Recently, the airport completed an emergency preparedness drill involving 1,500 people, 2 air force helicopters, 5 hospitals and different vital agencies. They performed an extensive and complicated drill, prepared for 3 nights and encompassing proper response to on-the-ground disastrous scenarios, even including the burning of a 747 and airplane crash. He was quite pleased with the unity of the response team as they performed the drill and said that this was a kind of preparation and alertness that’s needed–i.e., the airport has to be prepared even out of a sudden crisis.

Achieving the impossible is what’s needed, such as, being ready to respond, despite no early warning. “Early warning is useful,” Mr. Sarig said, “but most of the time, emergencies happen so suddenly, you only have 7 minutes to respond. The question is: Are you prepared to handle such a scenario?”

Several methods that Mr. Sarig used can be adapted to different companies, and will be shared at the upcoming, Emergency Mitigation, Preparedness, Response and Recovery 2009 Global Summit and Exhibition (7-8 October 2009, Grand Copthorne Waterfront Level 2, Singapore).

For more info, contact Paul Adams atinfo@arcmediaglobal.com.