A single event, whether a natural catastrophe or something caused by human activities, can have a signi昀椀cant impact on any organization. An occurrence does not necessarily have to be local to generate severe losses. The interconnectedness of supply chains means challenges remain. “We believe the overall that incidents on the other side of the world can semiconductor shortage will now drift into 2024, disrupt critical supplies and result in catastrophic from our earlier estimates in 2023, just because losses for businesses that are unprepared. the shortages have now hit equipment and some of those factory ramps will be more challenged,” One example of this resulted from Hurricane he told CNBC. Maria, which struck Puerto Rico and the continental United States in 2017. A major It took the scope of COVID-19 disruptions to signal hospital supplier was unable to maintain to the world how catastrophic pandemics can production, leading to a 600% increase in the upend global economies. Even before COVID-19 cost of intravenous equipment used by U.S. and its challenges, the World Bank found hospitals, according the United Nations O昀케ce sustained reductions in productivity following for Disaster Risk Reduction. biological disasters, in a study of four epidemics Another more recent example involves the occurring between 2000 and 2018. Factors in reduced productivity include depletion of labor, shortage of chips used to create a variety of weakened capital resources, disrupted supply electronic devices, largely as a result of the chains, lower business investment, and reduced COVID-19 pandemic. From video game consoles consumer demand. and smartphones to cars and LED lights, a wide swath of industries were—and still are—a昀昀ected Catastrophic risk can by this shortage. CEO of Intel Pat Gelsinger threaten the survival of noted that while things have improved, di昀昀erent organizations of all sizes. Business InsurBusiness Insurance Tance Trrendsends 66