Devising Post-Disaster Continuity Plans that Meet Actual Recovery Needs

This article is based on the author's direct observation, participation, and field experience in more than fifteen hundred post disaster recoveries over the last fifteen years. A review of relevant literature is followed by a discussion of the social dynamics of organizations recovering from a disaster; including the inventory period that immediately follows a disaster, three group defensive systems that emerge to defend the group against the threat and why one of these performs significantly better than the others. This is followed by a brief post-disaster timeline indicating the timing of crisis where staff morale becomes a critical issue and when political realignments become necessary. Lastly, conditions for selection and membership on a business resilience/recovery team and advantages of building this process into normal business practices are discussed.