What would you do?

It's Halloween and time for our unusual disaster issue. Everything here could happen... even if there's only a small chance (we hope). The question is what would you do to prepare for and deal with these disasters – and get your business up and running quickly. Several of these incidents had consequences no one could have imagined; maybe they should have been more imaginative.

London has been beset by Great Plagues and Great Fires, but did you know about the Great Beer Flood that killed eight? (Item #1) How can a sailor in a rough dockside bar tell a story about how his ship was almost destroyed, not by a hurricane or pirates but by an enraged dessert? (Item #2) Fire and an explosion kill more than 500, destroying the business district in Texas City, Texas. (Item #3)

70 city blocks were destroyed by this out-of-control fire and some 2,500 businesses were displaced. (Item #4) Some Minneapolis residents thought the world had ended when an explosion destroyed the Washburn A Mill. (Item #5) A shipment of liquid nitroglycerin led to one of the greatest industrial accidents of early California. (Item #6)