Companies headquartered in Southern California are no strangers to natural disasters. Because we’re based in LA, we understand how this can affect a business and the importance of planning for future disruptions. We tell all of our SoCal clients that they need to be particularly vigilant about several unique disasters and risks that can have a significant impact on their IT infrastructure. These include:
- Earthquakes: Southern California is a seismically active region, making earthquakes a primary concern. Ground shaking can damage data centers, servers, networking equipment, and other critical infrastructure. Companies need to ensure that their IT facilities are earthquake-resistant, with proper hardware bracing and redundancy.
- Wildfires: Wildfires can lead to power outages, smoke, and evacuations. Smoke and ash can infiltrate data centers, causing hardware damage and affecting cooling systems. Data centers should have robust air filtration systems, and businesses need to establish backup data centers in safer locations.
- Power Outages: Severe weather, equipment failure, or wildfire-related incidents can result in power outages. Companies should have uninterruptible power supplies (UPS) and backup generators to keep IT systems running during power interruptions.
- Mudslides and Debris Flows: Following wildfires, heavy rainfall can trigger mudslides and debris flows that might disrupt network connectivity, damage equipment, and hinder access to data centers. Businesses should have contingency plans in place to manage these scenarios.
- Heatwaves: High temperatures can strain cooling systems and lead to overheating of IT equipment. Proper climate control and cooling measures are essential to prevent equipment failure during heatwaves.
- Tsunamis: Companies located near the coast should consider the potential risk of tsunamis triggered by undersea earthquakes. Data centers and critical infrastructure should be located at a safe distance from coastal areas.
- Cybersecurity Threats: Being a hub for technology and innovation, Southern California companies are exposed to cybersecurity risks such as data breaches, ransomware attacks, and hacking attempts. Comprehensive cybersecurity measures, including regular updates, employee training, and robust firewalls, are crucial.
- Traffic Disruptions: Proximity to major cities can lead to traffic congestion and disruptions. This can impact the movement of employees, equipment, and data. Companies should have remote work capabilities and alternative means of communication and data access.
- Social Unrest and Civil Disruptions: Urban areas in Southern California can experience social or civil unrest, potentially affecting IT infrastructure and employee safety. Businesses should have contingency plans for remote work, data protection, and employee safety during such events.
- Water Shortages: Droughts and water shortages can impact cooling systems and general operations. Implementing water-saving technologies and contingency plans for water scarcity can help manage this risk.
To mitigate these risks, companies should develop and regularly update their IT disaster recovery and business continuity plans. This should include data backup and restoration strategies, remote work protocols, equipment redundancy, cybersecurity measures, and clear communication plans. But probably most important, you should collaborate with local IT professionals who understand the threats and can provide additional insights and resources for disaster preparedness.
IT Disaster Recovery Downtime Calculator
Downtime can be devastating.
Do you know how much a potential IT incident would cost your organization?
Find out now by using our simple Downtime Cost Calculator.
IT Disaster Recovery Downtime Calculator
Downtime can be devastating.
Do you know how much a potential IT incident would cost your organization?
Find out now by using our simple Downtime Cost Calculator.
October 20, 2025 — Early today, Amazon Web Services experienced a major incident centered in its US‑EAST‑1 (N. Virginia) region. AWS reports the event began around 12:11 a.m. PT and tied back to DNS resolution affecting DynamoDB , with mitigation within a couple of hours and recovery continuing thereafter. As the outage rippled, popular services like Snapchat, Venmo, Ring, Roblox, Fortnite , and even some Amazon properties saw disruptions before recovering. If your apps or data are anchored to a single cloud, a morning like this can turn into a help‑desk fire drill. A multi‑cloud or cloud‑smart approach helps you ride through these moments with minimal end‑user impact. What happened (and why it matters) Single‑region fragility: US‑EAST‑1 is massive—and when it sneezes, the internet catches a cold. Incidents here have a history of wide blast radius. Shared dependencies: DNS issues to core services (like DynamoDB endpoints) can cascade across workloads that never directly “touch” that service. Multi‑cloud: practical resilience, not buzzwords For mid‑sized orgs, schools, and local government, multi‑cloud doesn’t have to mean “every app in every cloud.” It means thoughtful redundancy where it counts : Multi‑region or multi‑provider failover for critical apps Run active/standby across AWS and Azure (or another provider), or at least across two AWS regions with automated failover. Start with citizen‑facing portals, SIS/LMS access, emergency comms, and payment gateways. Portable platforms Use Kubernetes and containers, keep state externalized, and standardize infra with Terraform/Ansible so you can redeploy fast when a region (or a provider) wobbles. (Today’s DNS hiccup is exactly the kind of scenario this protects against.) Resilient data layers Replicate data asynchronously across clouds/regions; choose databases with cross‑region failover and test RPO/RTO quarterly. If you rely on a managed database tied to one region, design an escape hatch. Traffic and identity that float Use global traffic managers/DNS to shift users automatically; keep identity (MFA/SSO) highly available and not hard‑wired to a single provider’s control plane. Run the playbook Document health checks, automated cutover, and comms templates. Then practice —tabletops and live failovers. Many services today recovered within hours, but only teams with rehearsed playbooks avoided user‑visible downtime. The bottom line Cloud concentration risk is real. Outages will happen—what matters is whether your constituents, students, and staff feel it. A pragmatic multi‑cloud stance limits the blast radius and keeps your mission‑critical services online when one provider has a bad day. Need a resilience check? Akins IT can help you prioritize which systems should be multi‑cloud, design the right level of redundancy, and validate your failover plan—without overspending. Let’s start with a quick, 30‑minute review of your most critical services and RPO/RTO targets. (No slideware, just actionable next steps.)
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