G 0.5 Natural Disasters

Natural disasters are understood as natural changes that have devastating effects on people and infrastructure. Causes of a natural disaster can be seismic, climatic, or volcanic phenomena, such as earthquakes, flooding, landslides, tsunamis, avalanches, and volcanic eruptions. Examples of extreme meteorological phenomena include storms, hurricanes, or cyclones. Depending on the location of the institution, it is exposed to the risks of various types of natural disasters to varying degrees.

Examples:

• For data centers in flood-prone areas, there is often a particular danger that water will uncontrollably enter the building (flooding or rise in groundwater levels).
• The frequency of earthquakes and thus the associated risk strongly depends on geographical location.

Regardless of the type of natural disaster, there is also a danger in areas not directly affected that supply systems, communication links, or IT components may be damaged or put out of service. Particularly the failure of central building supply systems (main power, telephone, and data distribution points) can result in very high damage. Operations and service personnel may be denied access to infrastructure due to large-scale restricted areas.

Examples:

• Many small businesses, including large companies, do not adequately account for flood risk. One company was already surprised by flood damage to its data center multiple times. The data center literally “washed away” for the second time within 14 months. The resulting damage amounted to several hundred thousand euros and is not covered by any insurance.
• An IT system is installed at a location whose geographical location is known for volcanic activity (a periodically intermittent phenomenon where emission phases alternate with sometimes long dormant phases).