One quote from the study said, "I would like to think we can learn from those experiences and be more resilient for longer but it won't happen unless governments and businesses are better prepared and put in place different supply chains which can be relied on when disasters strike," said Alyson Warhurst, chief executive of UK-based risk analysis company Maplecroft.
They call out challenges like the "just in time" delivery systems that have eliminated warehouses of parts and supplies and also "sole source providers" which maximizes profits and lowers costs, yet wrings resiliency out of the entire system when there is a glitch. There are inherent weaknesses in our modern systems that are not going to be revealed until there is a major disaster.
I don't expect any of this is going to change soon. There is too much focus on quarterly profits and short term gains over something like resiliency and disaster preparedness. Elected officials and Chief Executive Officers (CEO) play the "not on my watch" game all the time. And, they continue to win!
Lastly, I liked the fact that they called attention to the use of social media to achieve situational awareness. Maybe there is some hope after all for progress to be made in the future.
