As Hurricane Season Begins, MessageOne Survey Reveals 85% of Americans Do Not Anticipate Disaster or Emergency
Survey Begs Question: Are Americans as Safe as We Think We Are?
Austin, TX – June 14, 2006 – With hurricane season kicking off, and following a tumultuous year in 2005 (tsunamis, hurricanes, war, terrorist threats and recent pandemic flu warnings), approximately 85% of Americans do not anticipate their own town or city being impacted by a disaster or emergency this season, according to a survey sponsored by MessageOne. The recent survey of 1,127 Americans was conducted by Opinion Research Corp., an independent research company.
Even in the hurricane –ravaged southeast, where the possibility of disaster rated highest, 57% of survey respondents thought their home towns were safe, while only 43% anticipated some impact in their region in 2006. Other regions of the U.S., (West, Midwest, and the Northeast), averaged only 10% of respondents predicting some disaster or emergency in 2006.
According to Satin Mirchadani, President and CEO of MessageOne, a leading disaster recovery and business continuity firm, “The results beg the question—are Americans as safe as we think we are, or are we just living with a false sense of security? Our experience working with hundreds of companies after the 2005 hurricane season reinforces the notion that, even if you don’t expect a crisis, it really does pay to be prepared.”
Forecasting experts are predicting another intense year for hurricane regions again in 2006. "We foresee another very active Atlantic basin tropical cyclone season in 2006," states a report from a well known weather forecasting team including long-time forecasting guru William Gray of Colorado State University. The team’s 2006 forecast calls for 17 named tropical storms; an average season has 9.6. The report also calculates an 81% chance that at least one major hurricane will hit the U.S. coast in 2006.
Business Disaster Preparedness Unclear
In another survey question, respondents were asked if they felt their company was prepared in the event of a disaster or emergency. The survey showed Americans were almost evenly split in terms of their feelings of safety in a crisis situation at the workplace or on the job. Fifty two percent said they felt their place of employment was totally prepared or well prepared, while 48% said they felt their workplaces were not prepared or not at all prepared for a crisis or emergency.
Michael Osterman, a leading business continuity industry analyst, is not surprised at the data. “The tide is slowly turning and businesses are finally beginning to catch up with disaster preparedness in the workplace; however, there is still a long way to go as we have seen this past year with Katrina and other hurricanes and disasters. Business leaders need to take a good, hard look at their emergency preparedness plans and make sure they are updated, tested and ready to execute.”
Technology Solutions Bridge Gap in Crisis
In the case a disaster or emergency did take place, the survey also showed that people rely heavily on technology to keep in touch with their place of work, colleagues, clients and customers remotely. Cell phones and email were the technologies that ranked highest in what people would rely on most to maintain business remotely—with cell phones at 47% and email at 36%. Regular landline phones were only chosen by 13% and fax and word processing were so low they were statistically not significant.
About MessageOne
Headquartered in Austin, Texas, MessageOne is the leading provider of managed services for email management, archiving and business continuity. For enterprise email and wireless messaging systems, the company’s Email Management Services (EMS™) provides comprehensive email archiving, storage management and e-Discovery with the total continuity, recovery, and security protection only available from a managed service. In addition, MessageOne’s AlertFind™ provides guaranteed emergency notification and escalation to help companies protect their employees during any crisis or disaster. Millions of users around the world depend on MessageOne for its award-winning managed services.
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For more media information, contact:
Paul D'Arcy
Phone: 512-652-4500
Email: paul_darcy@messageone.com
Kirstan Ryan
Phone: 512-652-4500
Email: kirstan_ryan@messageone.com
