Business Vulnerability To Disaster-Related Lifeline Disruption

Abstract

Surveys in Memphis, Tennessee and Des Moines, Iowa indicate that business owners rate electricity as the most important lifeline service. In Des Moines, where the survey was conducted following the 1993 Midwest floods, proprietors tend to assign greater importance than Memphis business owners to other lifeline services. Data on the business impacts of the 1993 floods indicate that lifeline service interruptions were widespread, were perceived by business owners as very disruptive, and were a much more significant source of business closure than actual physical flooding.