Feel the earth move? Think BCP

weekly roundup For the first time, this week, I felt the earth move under my feet right here in Singapore, where natural disasters are a rare phenomenon.

Two earthquakes measuring 6.3 and 6.1 on the Richter scale struck the Indonesian island of Sumatra, sending tremors toward this little red dot on the globe--some 430 kilometers from the epicenter.

It's not the first time tremors have been felt in Singapore due to neighboring quakes, but it is one of the most widespread ripples to hit the country, shaking 236 buildings in various parts of the island. Several buildings were evacuated, some twice.

After the second round of tremors struck, I drove through the central business district and saw hordes of people in business wear loitering near the foot of their office buildings, waiting for the go-ahead to re-enter and resume work. Shouldn't they be heading for the nearest open space, instead of lingering within the circumference of a skyscraper?

Nathanial Forbes, ZDNet Asia's resident blogger and guru on business continuity planning (BCP) matters, highlighted some key pointers that organizations should take note of to prepare for such unforeseen situations. He warned against developing false complacency simply because you're an active partaker of your building's yearly fire drill, or what he dubbed "theater".

Forbes offered some great advice, though I'm not sure I know the next best alternative way to locate my colleagues without using a mobile phone. Do you?

In other news this week, find out what Microsoft wants to conquer next and why Yahoo will be kept pretty busy in China in the coming months. Also, Hong Kong lays the groundwork toward becoming a wireless city while Taiwan gets moving goggle boxes.