We have all seen the devastation caused by the recent earthquake and tsunami in Japan and our hearts are with the people affected. This disaster will take many years and billions of dollars to recover from in an economic sense. The human toll both in loss of life and mental scars will never go away for many.
As a company dedicated to helping people get better prepared for emergencies/disasters we are trying to see what we can learn so we can do our job better. We can look at these type situations and see how they affected people, businesses, rescue personnel and others so we can help give people at least some of the tools, kits, supplies and preparedness knowledge so they can better deal with something like this in the future.
This situation has also caused us to take a critical look at our own “preparedness plans” for a major disaster. We constantly encourage people to purchase the survival kits and supplies they need to help them deal with sudden situations. It is a message we have tried to help spread for years….and then…everyone decided to do it ON THE SAME DAY!!
Our website traffic increased 1,000 fold, emails poured in, the phones rang off the hook. Our fulfillment centers were overwhelmed by orders. They didn’t have the staff, the space or even the raw materials to make kits fast enough to keep up with demand. While many would think this is a great problem for a business to have…it actually wasn’t. We take this business seriously and it is a passion for us. Both myself and my partner are first responders. We truly wanted to help as many people as we could as quick as we could. Having orders delayed was not something we wanted to have to tell our clients.
So…I guess we learned some of our own lessons as well. We have met both with our internal term as well as with some of the suppliers we work with and have begun to develop our own set of preparedness plans to help us all better deal with major incidents. Preparedness is a mindset and something that we can all look at across many different aspects of our lives. With time, some planning and the right equipment…I know we will be better off