ABSTRACT
When a disaster occurs, the ability of businesses to survive into the future is threatened. Disasters threaten the economic vitality of communities, regions, and sometimes a nation, because they have a negative impact on the economic sector in which businesses operate. An economic sector affects the amount of competition, growth, earnings (Loscocco and Robinson 1991), and probable failure of a business in times of normalcy (Bruderl et al. 1992; Webb et al. 2002), thereby making certain types of business more vulnerable to failure compared to other businesses. According to Aldrich and Auster (1986), small businesses are more vulnerable to disasters, compared to larger businesses, because they generally have fewer resources to draw upon in times of disasters. Moreover, in times of disaster, small businesses have difficulty remaining open because of the disaster-induced changes within the community demographics and consumption patterns that delude the customer base (Webb et al. 2002).
