WCDM World Conference on Disaster Management

Are we headed into a global recession or are we already there? With indicators such as high oil prices, global food crisis, global inflation and global credit crisis - this is question that is headlined in almost every media caption around the world today.

These global issues filter down to affect budgets, inflation and business operations with local governments, communities and organizations. Are you prepared to react to the economic crisis?

The 19th WCDM will discuss the worldwide issues to prepare your organization and community during times of economic fluctuation.

Disaster Management professionals should be equipped to understand factors and repercussions that impact business and communities alike. Climate change is no longer a vague threat. The effects of a changing climate are already being felt around the world: powerful hurricanes, floods, droughts, heat waves, increasing forest-fire counts and blizzards.

The challenge before us globally as Disaster Management professionals is—What can we do? What are the economic effects? What type of planning should we be doing? What can we do, if anything, to influence politicians and business leaders?

“When disaster strikes, no one is left untouched,” said Adrian Gordon, President and CEO of the Canadian Centre for Emergency Preparedness (CCEP).

The frequency and impact of natural disasters are on the rise worldwide. Earthquakes, hurricanes, tsunamis, forest fires, tornados, ice storms and severe rain storms are happening more often than ever before.

The 19th WCDM will discuss real events and lessons learned that will help you with your own disaster preparedness plan to identify available resources and strategies to mitigate, prepare for, respond to and recover from natural disasters.

Are you prepared for a Pandemic Outbreak?

Planning for a pandemic is essential. Being informed and knowing what to do will help minimize the impact in our daily lives at home and at work. We in the profession know it is a major threat. With a recent outbreak of H5N1 strain of avian flu among poultry in England and continuing human deaths in Indonesia it is still an issue to be dealt with.  

According to World Health Organization data, of the 137 cases of H5N1 confirmed to date in Indonesia, 112 have been fatal. In 2008 alone, there have been 36 confirmed human cases of Avian Influenza worldwide.

How resilient is your business today? Can you deliver on customer demand during a disaster or crisis? If you can’t deliver, your customers will go to your competitors that can. To ensure that your organization can bounce back quickly from disaster or crisis large or small you have to ensure that you have a resiliency plan. If you have strong principles for your corporate resiliency, your organization will be able to be competitive and maintain full or partial business operations during and after a disaster or crisis.

The 19th WCDM will take the “complexity” out of understanding how resiliency plays an integral part of their operations and how you can remain competitive during a disaster or crisis.

Every community can be easily disrupted by an emergency. This can seriously affect the lives, economy and environment of its residents. This could take the form of a severe storm, flood, forest or structural fire, chemical spill, pandemic outbreak or similar disasters.

Are you prepared to respond and provide help to your community when a disaster or crisis occurs? Do you have the resources, tools and plan to respond? Do your community residents know what to do when a disaster or crisis occurs?

Do you have a Business Continuity plan? Building a framework that not only is simple to implement, but also includes safety, response, risk analysis, recovery strategies, plan development, plan testing, maintenance and awareness programs is sometimes a difficult task.

Do you exercise test and review new standards to ensure that your Business Continuity plan is up-to-date? Do you know the risks that could affect your employees and organization? Do you have the tools to ensure that you will be able to recover and restore partially or completely interrupted critical functions within a determined time after a disaster or crisis disruption?

Take time to visit the poster presentations. During the conference, presenters will be located at their posters at predetermined times on Monday and Tuesday.

This will give you an excellent opportunity to review their work, listen to a brief presentation of each Poster Presenter as well as network one-on-one with these presenters.

Where else in North America can you get such an international perspective to the Disaster Management scene?  With presenters, exhibitors and delegates from more than 40 countries, the 19th WCDM will provide a unique opportunity for you to network and learn from some of the best practitioners in the world.

This is your chance to break out of the box, and be exposed to the thoughts and practices of our friends from Australia, New Zealand, the United Kingdom, the Far East, the Middle East, and more.

If you go to conferences to learn and network with your peers, then THIS is the conference for you. Not only will you be networking with professionals in your own field, but you will have the opportunity to network with individuals from all areas of Disaster Management - and from all parts of the globe!

What an occasion to expand your horizons and learn from the best!

Whether it be over breakfast or lunch, during refreshment breaks or the various social events, there will be ample opportunity to interact with your fellow attendees.