"How is "catastrophic" different than all other major disasters There are fundamental differences in all respects between disasters that impact a business, a group of businesses or even businesses across a region, and a disaster that involves all businesses to varying degrees across a nation and the world. As evidenced with major natural disasters including, Hurricanes Andrew and Katrina, and the tsunami in Southeast Asia in 2004, a natural disaster can quickly evolve from a local or regional event into a national or international tragedy in a matter of hours or minutes. These devastating major natural disasters demand planning and response capabilities far beyond most natural disasters. While these major disasters affected businesses well beyond their impact zone, their impacts still pale to the potential catastrophic effects from a major terrorist event with weapons of mass destruction or a pandemic influenza. There is a fundamental difference in the preparation, complexity, quality of effort, and scope of catastrophic disaster as opposed to a major natural disaster. For a catastrophic disaster, the CI/KR business not only must strive to sustain itself, but as impacts worsen it may be called upon to adjust and consolidate its typical essential processes so that it may survive as an economic entity. Yet, through good planning and an agile response, it will adapt and cope sufficiently to continue providing the most essential goods and services necessary to sustain the community and the nation". (DHS, Pandemic Influenza CIKR Guide, 2006, p. 30)