The Calgary Chamber of Commerce has published a new report ‘Flood Resiliency: Insights from a survey of the Calgary Business Community’ which captures resiliency lessons from the city’s 2013 flood.
The flood caused almost $6 billion in damages. Dozens of businesses were directly flooded, impacting operations, facilities and equipment. In addition, thousands of businesses experienced days of lost productivity and sales, as well as supply-chain disruptions.
The Calgary Chamber continues to play an essential role in helping businesses recover from the damage and build resiliency to minimize the impact of future events. In line with this mission, the Chamber conducted a survey of its members and the community at large to better understand the full impacts of the flood, and assess both disaster mitigation efforts and flood recovery programs.
The survey asked questions about the effect of the flood, disaster preparedness activities and business owners’ opinions on government support programs. In doing so, the survey enabled the Calgary Chamber to identify key successes and highlight any shortcomings. The goal was to better understand the current level of disaster resiliency and to provide insights on how businesses can better prepare for future incidents.
The survey report can be read here (PDF).