On the morning of August 30, 2023, a fire broke out at a data center operated by Belgian telecom giant Proximus. Soon, emergency numbers 112, 101, and 100, which are used to call the ambulance, the firefighters, and the police, became unreachable. The situation lasted for almost half an hour before these essential services were restored.

Every minute an organization is offline can be expensive and can even cost human lives. And while ransomware attacks get most of the headlines, natural disasters can be devastating too. 

Fires, electrical failures, earthquakes, hurricanes, and even missile strikes in war-torn places like Ukraine can knock down data centers. Often, there’s no way of predicting when such events will occur, yet some risks can be mitigated if the right plans are in place. Preparing for natural disasters, however, is different compared to dealing with ransomware attacks, because the type of damage and the priorities are different.