A Study On Business Sector Preparedness In Disaster Management With Reference To Kerala State

Abstract

Whatever be the type of disaster, business sector is the most impacted sector among the possible vulnerable parties, when considering the importance of contribution provided by this sector towards the national income. Therefore, this study focuses on identification of major natural and technology related hazards faced by businesses in Kerala. It also analyses existing contingency plans of businesses. The study attempts to assess whether the business firms are prepared enough to manage disasters which they have to face during their business operations. A thorough attempt is made to analyse the key success factors for businesses to manage such disastrous situations. As a rule, there should be a provision for preventing or facing unexpected disasters and the Management needs to keep a provision through their disaster management plan. Neverthless, the real implementation of it remains as a question mark still Therefore, the study seeks to evaluate the methods of disaster management taken up by some selected business firms. Data have been collected from the experiences of prior disaster situations and their measures adopted to mitigate the negative effects of them. The study has been limited to the Kerala State. Some specific areas of the state affected by various kinds of  disasters during the last few years have been selected for the study.