As I write this month’s column, the magnitude of the earthquake and resulting tsunami in Japan is still unfolding, the horrific images starting to overwhelm nightly news reports and the Internet.
On the morning of the March 11 quake those of us living in Hawaii and on the West Coast of the U.S. awoke to the possibility of a major tsunami headed our way. While it soon became apparent that the coming surge would not be catastrophic, it served as a reminder that we’re all basically living hours, minutes or seconds from disaster, and that those of us in the hospitality industry are obligated to have a disaster preparedness plan for every meeting we hold or hotel we operate.
We dodged a bullet this time, but would be well served to have a plan together before the sirens sound.
