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Monsoon rains paralyze Mumbai on Terrible Tuesday

Incessant rains on Tuesday, the 26th of July, 2005, crippled life in India 's financial capital – Mumbai, with an unprecedented deluge bringing rail, road network and flights to a halt, leaving millions of people stranded. About 944 mm of water in 21 hours ending 8:30 am Wednesday meant that Mumbai had displaced Meghalaya’s Cherrapunji and now holds the record for receiving the most rainfall in the shortest possible time.

India's stock and bond markets remained closed on Thursday 28 July as monsoon rains continued to disrupt Mumbai. The downpour had taken its toll on bank customers not just in Maharashtra , but in other parts of the country as well. For instance, SBI's centralized core banking solutions hub in Belapur, Navi Mumbai, was affected by the floods resulting in the failure of the 6500 strong ATM network. The Mumbai floods impacted businesses such as the diamond and textile industry in key Gujarat cities. Maharashtra Government confirmed that more than 400 people have died in the torrential rains, subsequent floods and landslides in the State. The Government has estimated losses to the tune of 2000 crores. Power companies such as Reliance Energy and the Maharashtra State Power Distribution Company had cut power to most parts of the city on Tuesday.

Gujarat Floods

Heavy monsoon floods in India's western state of Gujarat had left at least 200 people dead and more than 65,000 people homeless. The floods had badly hit the rail and road transport. Industries faced the maximum brunt of the torrential rains that lashed the State. Gujarat has registered a cumulative loss of Rs. 8,254 crores with industries and mines being worst affected, followed by the power sector losing Rs. 1,244 crores.

The situation in the state was reported to be critical in the several districts like Surat , Valsad, Navsari, Bharuch, Vadodara, Surendranagar, Dangs, Ahmedabad, Anand, Kheda, Amreli, Bhavnagar , Junagadh, Rajkot , Narmada, Jamnagar , Gandhinagar and Sabarkantha. The total number of talukas affected was 117 with 8000 villages. Human life has not been the only casualty of the devastating floods that have hit Gujarat. Thousands of cattle, reared by local people for their milk, have perished, robbing villagers of their only source of livelihood.

Recent Disasters around the world

Killer storms in the Gulf of Mexico

On Monday, the 29th of August, 2005, the killer storm Katrina inflicted widespread, catastrophic damage along the US coast as it slammed into Louisiana with 140 mile per hour (224 kph) winds, then swept across Mississippi , Alabama and western Florida . Katrina is the 11th named storm of the 2005 Atlantic hurricane season.

At least 100 people have been feared dead in Mississippi alone and the total numbers are likely to increase as rescuers try to reach hard-hit areas. Katrina knocked out electricity to about 1.3 million people, in Louisiana , Mississippi , Alabama and Florida . On its way to the coast, the storm swept through oil and gas fields in the Gulf of Mexico where 20 percent of the nation's energy is produced. At least two drilling rigs were knocked adrift in the gulf and another in Mobile Bay , Alabama , broke free of its mooring and slammed into a bridge. On Tuesday 30th August, the hurricane lashed the low-lying city of New Orleans , and left thousands of people homeless.

U.S. oil prices on Monday jumped nearly $5 a barrel in opening trade to peak over $70 before settling back to around $67 on Tuesday. A risk analysis estimated that the storm could cost insurers up to $26 billion, which would make it the most expensive storm in U.S. history.

About 92 percent of the Gulf's oil production shut down and 615 offshore platforms and 96 rigs were evacuated before the storm hit, according to government figures.

Workshops

Accredited Training Programs as per the Business Continuity Institute, UK

The Business Continuity Institute, UK has introduced a Training Endorsement Scheme in response to the demand for a benchmark of quality business continuity training. A consistent standard of high quality training is vital to ensure that business continuity skills are developed and maintained both by individuals and within organisations.

For further details visit http://www.thebci.org/accreditedtraining.htm

Articles

Business Continuity Lessons from July 7, 2005

Three explosions occurred on the London Underground at around 8.50am, all within 50 seconds of each other. A fourth explosion happened on a bus at Tavistock Place at around 9.47am. 54 people were killed in the attacks and several hundred were injured. At least one of the attacks has been confirmed as a suicide attack and it is highly probable that all four were, making this the first such attack in Western Europe.

However tragic an incident is, a hard look at the things that can be learned from it nearly always provides useful lessons to make handling the next crisis more effective. Read More….

Omnitech Q1 PAT up 127%

Omnitech InfoSolutions Limited, India's leading business availability and business continuity services provider, posted a PAT of 884.57 lacs, up a whopping 127% from the 389.57 lacs posted in the last fiscal. Net income also rose 77% to 4253.72 lacs.

This positive result follows on the opening of their “OmniCenter” disaster recovery center in Mavi Mumbai. The first in a series of similar centers to be located across the country, it boasts over 300 workspaces, redundancy for all equipment and high security.

Full Article: http://www.moneycontrol.com/india/news/..347583

GAIL sets up recovery center in Jaipur

GAIL (India) Limited has formally opened its new recovery center in Jaipur. The Rs. 15 crores center will allow GAIL to meet its disaster recovery objectives of zero data loss and restoration of business within 2-3 hours.

Chosen after consideration of a number of factors includ