Business Continuity after the 2003 Bam Earthquake in Iran

Abstract

In disaster prone countries, such as Iran, business continuity are one of the most important challenges in relation to disaster recovery operations. Iranian experiences indicate that following natural disasters, small business recovery has been faced with a number of problems. It seems that in the light of the lack of business continuity planning, disruption of small business operations may cause the affected community with a number of difficulties.

The 2003 Bam Earthquake resulted in huge physical destruction and significant impacts on small businesses. Following the disruption of economic activities, decision makers considered many issues in small-business recovery. However in the process of post-earthquake business continuity recovery, problems were arisen not only for shopkeepers but citizens. For instance, In the case of Bam, lack of specific organization and having a ready plan for pre-plan on business continuity management and also inefficient cooperation between the stockholders and the planners caused the problems of small business district reconstruction program reach a peak. So reconstruction planners endeavored to decrease the negative effects of shopping arcades reconstruction on the local community. In addition, the allocation of low interest loans to small business recovery resulted in some satisfaction among the stockholders. However in some aspects implemented plans were not able to facilitate the economic recovery completely. The present paper examines the reconstruction process of small businesses after Bam earthquake and discusses the main aspects of Business Continuity Planning. It concludes that an integration of Business Continuity Planning and reconstruction master plan may pave the way of better disaster recovery planning in Iran.