Disaster back-up planning top of mind for ChCh publisher

Disaster back-up planning top of mind for Christchurch publisher

March 4 (BusinessDesk) – Finding more secure and accessible locations for vital equipment and company records will be high on the agenda for the Christchurch publisher one of the country’s oldest political newsletters, after continuing to publish in the aftermath of last week’s devastating earthquake.

Max Bowden, publisher of the Trans Tasman political newsletter, says he had to make a “dramatic return” to his ruined offices on the northern fringe of the Christchurch central business district to retrieve servers and other vital equipment, and the newsletters would be published as usual from next week.

An issue of Trans Tasman, published continuously since 1974 was produced in time for normal electronic distribution to clients on the Thursday two days after the quake. That was a “massive feat, given the scale of the disruption suffered,” said Bowden, whose previous offices were ruined in the Sept. 4 quake.

“We owed it to our clients and to ourselves” said Bowden, whose Main Report Publications group publishes a range of subscription newsletters. “These news weeklies have been going out without fail since 1974, and we weren’t going to let this stop us if at all possible.”

However, print editions of the newsletters could not resume immediately, in part because their contract printer’s premises were destroyed in the 6.3 magnitude quake that is expected to have killed as many as 220 people.

“While the businesses’ data was backed up, and quick-thinking staff managed to retrieve back up data sticks, software and hardware issues have caused problems. The destruction of supplier business premises has also made things more difficult.

“Finding more secure and accessible back up locations will be one of the key priorities for the business.”

Disclosure: Content Ltd, owner of the BusinessDesk news service, is also a content supplier to the Main Report Publications group.

(BusinessDesk)

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