Cold winters, floods, hurricanes, fires— all kinds of emergency situations can impact individuals and/or businesses at a moment’s notice without warning.

Even though Hurricane Katrina struck more than four years ago, most people and even business owners have no evacuation plans, contingency plans, communication plans or business continuity plans in case it were to happen again.

Imagine a business on a busy highway struck by an out of control oil truck. While there may be insurance, what plans are in place for the short term? The American Red Cross unveiled a new free program to help assess one’s readiness for everyday situations as well as natural or man-made catastrophes. This program offers a tiered and layered approach to look at emergencies. After Katrina, 15-40 percent of businesses eventually failed, and 94 percent of those were small businesses.

It is estimated that 60 percent of businesses in the country are totally unprepared for even small emergencies, including fire or illness.

However, 82 percent of businesses have said that if someone could make it easy for them to be prepared, they’d do it.

The readiness program provides a cost-free framework for business organizations and schools including supplies and resources. “Preparation makes good business sense,” said Shasta Butler, coordinator of the program.

All responses are held in the strictest of confidence, and by answering a few questions, a profile can be created for your school or business with a team member assigned to help with the assessment process.

The criteria is detailed with clear steps to guide the members through the process of improving their preparedness. The program is totally Web-based.

For more information about the program, visit the Web site redcrossreadyrating.org. Businesses and non-governmental agencies can call Janner Kay Wilson at (504) 620-3139 for more information.