DISASTER RECOVERY GROUP URGED

The time to prepare for a disaster is now, before one strikes, Southwestern Bell representative Tim Bonno told Cape Girardeau business leaders Friday.

Bonno, who helps communities organize business and industry disaster recovery groups, was the guest speaker at the monthly First Friday Coffee meeting sponsored by the Cape Girardeau Chamber of Commerce. During his presentation he encouraged Cape Girardeau business people to organize a business continuity planning group, whose mission would be to develop plans to help businesses become operational quickly after a disaster.

"You will be called upon to try to help the community be better prepared for isolated incidents that affect business," he said. "It's a benefit to have a working organization like this so we can come up with some credentialing processes to help get our businesses going again after an emergency."

Bonno has helped develop similar organizations in St. Louis and Kansas City, and a new group is currently being formed in Springfield. Missouri has had the fifth-highest number of disasters in the nation between 1949 and 1994, he said. Because Cape Girardeau is threatened by natural disasters -- including earthquakes and floods-- , the community would be well served by a disaster recovery committee, he said.

It only takes one or two months for a group to organize, he said, and the long-term benefits can include coordination of available resources, increased knowledge and minimal amounts of down-time for businesses. All of the benefits could save businesses time and money, regardless of whether the disaster is an earthquake or a broken water main, he said.

"The community can be impacted, your individual business can be impacted, so you want to have plans and procedures in place so that we can start those critical functions as quickly as possible," said Bonno. "There's no sense in waiting until the water is up across the ceiling to try and decide how we're going to handle this monster."

Chamber special projects director Linda Minner will maintain a list of people interested in helping develop a disaster recovery committee.