Bird Flu: Panasonic Thinks It’s Serious Enough to Request an Evacuation

In December 2008 Panasonic Corp. asked that several of its overseas employees send their families home to Japan due to the threat of pandemic influenza. Panasonic even gave a September, 2009 deadline for completion of the moves. While some analysts claim this unusual request is simply a cover-up for controlling costs on the part of Panasonic, it certainly is credible enough to give pause for emergency preparedness evaluation in our personal lives. Bloomberg analysts have claimed that bringing the employee families home from certain areas wasn't a viable cost-cutting measure.

If such a pandemic were to threaten our borders, are we prepared financially, physically, and emotionally for the consequences?

This news not only affects our citizens living abroad, as China and Egypt have also reported human H5N1 cases. Adding credence to this instance, a senior US government official who asked to remain anonymous said that the pandemic threat persists and the need for preparations is critical.

Is Panasonic’s move significant? You decide.

Copyright 2009 Kellene Bishop. All rights reserved. You are welcome to repost this information so long as it is credited to Kellene Bishop.


Preparedness Pro Note: If you would like Kellene Bishop to present an Emergency Preparedness message for your community or church group, please contact us at 801-788-4133. Ms. Bishop is an experienced speaker on Emergency Preparedness topics and also has created a great “Preparedness Party” platform which makes the learning of such a topic more enjoyable for all.