Disaster responseNatural Disaster Preparations May Help Businesses' Pandemic Response

Published 20 October 2020

The economic impacts of COVID-19 have battered small and medium-sized enterprises, putting millions of jobs in the U.S. at risk. And a year rife with natural disasters has not done many struggling businesses any favors. ,A new survey found that nearly a quarter of businesses felt natural disaster preparations helped them address COVID-19. They tended to find preparations of broad applicability during natural disasters, such as telework readiness, more useful than hazard-specific measures. The survey also identified areas of hardship for businesses, including uncertainty and a lack of guidance and resources.

The economic impacts of COVID-19 have battered small and medium-sized enterprises, putting millions of jobs in the U.S. at risk. And a year rife with natural disasters has not done many struggling businesses any favors.

To learn about the strategies and experiences of businesses managing this double threat, researchers at the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST), in collaboration with the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA), surveyed small and medium-sized enterprises across the country. In a new report of survey results, nearly a quarter of businesses felt natural disaster preparations helped them address COVID-19. They tended to find preparations of broad applicability during natural disasters, such as telework readiness, more useful than hazard-specific measures. The survey also identified areas of hardship for businesses, including uncertainty and a lack of guidance and resources.

“The survey results can help by drawing attention to how small and medium-sized businesses are thriving or suffering and showing where natural disaster planning and preparation helped,” said Ariela Zycherman, NOAA social scientist and co-author of the report. “The results will also help us identify places where there are needs and opportunities to build social and economic resilience to multiple types of disasters.”

The NIST and NOAA researchers conducted the survey from July 8 to Aug. 8, reaching businesses with fewer than 10 to more than 100 employees from a wide array of industries, including construction, manufacturing and retail. With help from other entities, such as the Minority Business Development Agency and the Small Business Administration, the authors promoted the survey via email, newsletter and social media, obtaining more than 1,300 responses.

In the survey, the team asked businesses about challenges presented by COVID-19 and measures taken to manage them. The researchers also inquired about experiences with sudden, high-impact disasters, such as hurricanes, earthquakes and wildfires, as well as longer-lasting, slower-onset events, including droughts and winter storms.

Twenty-nine percent of respondents said they had experienced natural disasters since March 13, when the federal government declared the pandemic a national emergency. The researchers expect this figure would be much higher had the survey been distributed later, however, as events such as the wildfires along the West Coast surged after the survey closed.