Katrina's wake still reaching Alaska.

• Author: Pilkington, Steve
• Position: Hurricane Katrina - Integrated Concepts and Research Corp.'s services - Brief article

While New Orleans and surrounding states still reel from the effects of Hurricane Katrina, section's of the nation's industries, such as construction and manufacturing, continue to feel the ripple effect in unexpected ways. Alaska's businesses are not outside the hurricane's devastating reach.

Integrated Concepts and Research Corp., a second-tier subsidiary of ANC Koniag Inc., is one company affected by Katrina. ICRC's Infrastructure Support Services division is based in Anchorage. Following Hurricane Katrina, it took ICRC more than two weeks to reach its 15 New Orleans-based employees, who had worked at the Department of Agriculture's National Finance Center. Fortunately, all the employees reached safety, but were now scattered throughout the country.

To assist the New Orleans employees, ICRC set up a means for employees to donate cash and paid time off (PTO) to their displaced colleagues. ICRC's employees...