Business sector preparedness in disaster management: case study with businesses in Southern Sri Lanka in both aspects of natural and technological disasters

Despite the type of a disaster, business community is prominent among the possible vulnerable parties, when considering the importance of contribution towards the national income. Accordingly, this case study will focus on identification of major natural and technology related hazards faced by businesses in Southern Sri Lanka. It will also analyze existing contingency plans of businesses and whether the businesses are prepared enough to manage disasters which they have to face during their business operations. It is expected to identify the key success factors for businesses to manage such disaster situations. Theoretically, there should be a provision for unexpected incidents and the Management needs to keep a provision through their contingency plan. However, the practical application of it is questionable. Therefore, the study will investigate selected businesses on their existing practices to face such disasters. Data will be collected even with the experiences of prior disaster situations and their business practices to mitigate the negative effects of them. The study will be limited to the Southern Province of Sri Lanka, as an area that got affected by various types of disasters during the last few decades and also consists of a wide range of businesses. (C) 2018 The Authors. Published by Elsevier Ltd.