What Is Disaster Recovery Center?

The world and how we think about disaster recovery have transformed. In days gone by, you might have set up a disaster recovery center in your basement or garage—but now, it's more efficient (and probably safer) to set one up elsewhere. A disaster recovery center is a drive that serves disaster recovery measures. It may be where individuals and assets are gathered after a disaster or where people can get information about disaster recovery. In business, an enterprise may set up its disaster recovery center to move people and equipment following a crisis. An excellent example of this kind of facility houses the National Archives and Records Administration's Electronic Records Archive (ERA) program at the National Archives building in Washington, DC. The ERA stores electronic records from federal agencies so that they can be preserved for future generations to use as needed. If you're looking for a disaster recovery center, you've come to the right place. We're not talking about the facilities the Federal Emergency Management Administration (FEMA) manages. Those are places people can go for consultation and information about disaster recovery. We're talking about the kind of disaster recovery centers other people set up to offer hosting for people or companies—like this one. You've probably heard of "disaster recovery centers," but you may not have known they could be used as meeting places or office space. For example, say you had difficulty finding an affordable place to host your business because all the co-working spaces in town were booked up. You could set up your disaster recovery center in your basement or backyard and use it as an office for yourself and a few employees! Or maybe there's been an earthquake where you live, and everyone is staying at hotels—why not rent out one of those rooms as a disaster recovery center? These days, anyone can open a disaster recovery center!