Natural disasters refer to natural changes which have devastating consequences for people and infrastructures. Causes for a natural catastrophe can be seismic, climatic or volcanic phenomena, such as earthquakes, flooding, landslides, tsunamis, avalanches and volcanic eruptions. Examples of extreme meteorological phenomena include thunderstorms, hurricanes, or cyclones. Depending on the site of the organisation, it is exposed to the risks from the various types of natural disasters to different degrees.
Examples:
- For computer centres in flood-prone regions, there is often the particular risk of water entering the building in an uncontrolled manner (flooding or rise in groundwater level).
- The frequency of earthquakes and thus also the associated risk depends to a large extent on the geographical location.
Regardless of the type of natural disaster, there is also a danger in regions which are not directly affected that supply systems, communication links or IT components are damaged or put completely out of operation. Especially if central building supply system equipment (main distributors for the electrical, telephone, or data systems) fails, this can cause major damage. Operating and service personnel may be denied access to the infrastructure due to extensive restricted areas.
Examples:
- Many businesses, even large companies, do not take the danger of flooding seriously enough. For example, one company was "surprised" several times by flood damage to their computer centre. The computer centre was literally washed away twice within 14 months. The resulting damage was estimated to be several hundred thousand euros and was not covered by insurance.
- An IT system is located at a site where the geographical location is known for its volcanic activity (intermittent phenomenon for which the emission phases alternate with sometimes long non-emission phases).
Propojené úkoly
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