Craft a disaster recovery plan

By Laurie Kulikowski

Natural disasters are here to stay and small business owners should be prepared for events they can't control.

June 1 marks the start of hurricane season, and while many parts of the New York and New Jersey coastal communities are still rebuilding from Superstorm Sandy, one of the worst hurricane's in U.S. history, The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) forecasts a higher than average 2013 Atlantic hurricane season.

The forecast calls for 13 to 20 named storms, seven to 11 of which are expected to become hurricanes, of which three to six are expected to become major hurricanes (which have Category 3 or higher winds). For the 17-year period through 2012, hurricane season averaged 15 named storms, eight hurricanes and four major hurricanes.

The Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) estimates 40% of businesses do not reopen after a disaster, and of those that do reopen, 25% fail within one year.

A December 2012 survey by Alibaba, Vendio and Auctiva polled 600 small-business owners to gauge how prepared they were to run their business if a natural disaster struck. The findings were alarming: 74% of American small businesses do not have a disaster preparedness plan; 84% of them are without natural disaster insurance.

Bob Boyd, President and CEO of Agility Recovery, a former division of General Electric and a provider of business continuity and disaster recovery solutions to small and mid-sized businesses, spoke with TheStreet to offer small-business owners advice on preparing for uncontrollable events.

Read the Q&A here.