In a disaster how well would your business fare? 40 percent of businesses do not survive most disasters.
Emergency service providers are concerned about not only the survivability of Yellowstone County’s businesses, but also wondering what local businesses have that could assist the community in an emergency.
Ready Yellowstone, a subcommittee of the Local Emergency Planning Committee (LEPC), has launched a survey to which they are asking local businesses to respond. “The findings will form the basis of developing a plan to support increased preparedness among the business community,” explains Pam Sanderson, of United Way as Volunteer Center Director, and who chairs Ready Yellowstone.
The survey is very easy and quick to complete, said Sanderson, as she urged everyone to take a few minutes to respond. To request a link call 406-272-8510 or go to volunteer@uwyellowstone.org or go to Facebook to find the link readyyellowstone.org.
The survey will help LEPC in an effort to determine how prepared the cities and county are for various kinds of emergencies, and to help determine if there are actions LEPC could take that would be helpful, said Dianne Lehm, with the Big Sky Economic Development Authority (BSEDA), which is one of numerous local civic groups with representatives to LEPC. They hope, also, to gather information about what kind of resources local business might have that could be used in cases of emergencies to mitigate emergency situations, large or small, with things like equipment, open spaces or manpower.
The LEPC’s concerns arise from reports from FEMA, a federal agency that deals with disasters all the time, that 25 percent of businesses that do not immediately fail, do fail within the first year after a disaster and the US Small Business Administration reports that over 90 percent of businesses fail within the first two years. Every county is required by the Environmental Protection Agency, to have an LEPC. The Committee includes the director of the County’s Emergency Services, representatives of all the hospitals, schools, law enforcement, fire departments, and many other emergency responders, meets regularly to address emergency preparedness issues.