Deborah L. Cohen

For East Coast business owners shaken by this week's earthquake and bracing for Hurricane Irene's onslaught, the stats are gloomy. Twenty-five percent of small businesses hit with a disaster like a flood or an earthquake never re-open. That's according to data from the Tampa, Florida-based Insurance Institute for Business & Home Safety, a nonprofit group that collects information on the impact of catastrophes and provides it…