In the event of a disruption:
Activating and deploying the plan

This section provides guidance for entities on the activation of a business continuity plan.

Some examples of recent incidents which have affected Australian Government entities, and have required the activation of business continuity plans, or have been used to exercise business continuity plans,
include the:

• concurrent firestorm in Victoria and floods in Queensland and New South Wales (2009) – State and Federal emergency services and community recovery entities were stretched to the limit when disasters were concurrently declared in two states in February 2009. Hundreds of lives were lost, and there was extensive damage to homes, businesses, infrastructure and government property;
• APEC and World Youth Day events in Sydney (2007 and 2008) - these were planned events, however they disrupted business operations due to increased security requirements necessitating road closures in the central business district and eastern Sydney areas;
• major storm in the Hunter Valley, Central Coast and Sydney (2007) – this storm killed nine people, caused extensive damage to the Newcastle, Wyong and Gosford areas, and in the following days caused major floods in the Hunter region. Electricity supplies were also extensively reduced;
• power supply failures in Victoria (2000 and 2007) – a key power transmission line was cut by a bushfire; and industrial action, generator failure and high temperatures combined to trigger blackouts and restrictions. In both incidents, homes and businesses lost power for significant periods of time;
• severe hailstorm in the ACT (February 2007) – a SuperCell storm dumped nearly one metre of ice in Canberra. The ice was so heavy the roof collapsed in several buildings, including a newly built shopping centre, a university and a library;
• Tropical Cyclone Larry in Queensland (March 2006) – with wind gusts reaching 240 km/h, Cyclone Larry damaged buildings, caused major disruptions to power, water and telephone services, and resulted in one fatality. The cost of the cyclone was estimated at A$1 billion;
• Boxing Day tsunami in the south pacific (December 2004) – an earthquake triggered a series of tsunamis, killing more than 225 000 people in 11 countries, and inundating coastal communities with waves up to 30 meters high;
• firestorm in NSW and the ACT (January 2003) - after burning for a week around the edges of the ACT, fires entered the suburbs of Canberra. Four people died, more than 500 homes were destroyed or severely damaged and organisations such as the Canberra Hospital ran on back-up generators; and
• terrorist activities worldwide – while major terrorist activities such as the September 11 attack in 2001, the 2004 Madrid bombings, the Bali bombings in 2002 and 2005, and the 2005 London bombings account only for a small percentage of business disruptions, these are highly visible and traumatic events that impact communities and entities.