On a daily basis we respond to a variety of emergencies, most of which have become fairly routine. Of course, reaching that level of competence takes a lot of training, exercises and actual events. We have to constantly guard against complacency to ensure safe and effective operations. However, the extraordinary events — such as tornados, earthquakes, hurricanes and conflagrations — can overwhelm the best organizations, and catastrophic losses can stretch anyone’s capacity to the breaking point. So how do we get ready for these “unimaginable events”?