Phoenix–Experts exposed their successes and failures in coping with Hurricane Katrina, and suggested ways for carriers to plan for the next catastrophe.

Their advice came Saturday at the mid-winter meeting here of the National Association of Professional Surplus Lines Offices, Ltd.

“Katrina was so widespread, there's a whole new spin to disaster planning,” noted David Losson, director of information technology with Crump Group Inc. in Dallas.

Other panelists were Patricia H. Roberts, president and chief executive officer for General Star excess and surplus lines in Stamford, Conn., and Todd Evans, a principal specializing in third party administration at Engle Martin & Associates Inc.

Mr. Evans said of the Katrina catastrophe that the “scope caught a lot of us off guard.”

As a result of his firm's experience, Mr. Losson said his firm will revamp its business continuity programs to create one for a localized catastrophe and another for an event impacting a broader area.

In a smaller disaster when a facility is made inoperable, a plan might involve securing an office space four blocks away–not the case with Katrina, he noted.

He added that a small but effective plan is assigning “calling trees” to contact employees and retail agents to reassure the client base.

His firm also was prepared with a cache of servers for computers that it trucked from Dallas to Houston, where it relocated its New Orleans office.

Mr. Losson said it was frustrating to have a data backup provider which had the backup tapes, but at an inaccessible location.

He said one Katrina “wild card” was the impact on employees, many who had personal difficulties to deal with such as the dislocation of elderly parents. These situations make it “tough to keep morale up,” he said.

Another wild card cited by Mr. Evans was the response of public agencies. Companies that had disaster plans depending on the City of New Orleans or the Federal Emergency Management Agency “ran into serious shortfalls,” he said.

He mentioned how some adjusters “were pushed out of hotels by the Red Cross and FEMA guys and wound up sleeping in their cars.”

Mr. Evans noted that with good planning the claims process goes much smoother, relating that “within the first 48 hours contractors and salvers get sucked up pretty quickly.” Those firms that have not made arrangements get pushed to the end of the line, he said.

He advised that effective disaster plans involve preselection of vendors that can help in a catastrophe. He also said to make sure those vendors have their own disaster plan.

In Mr. Evans' view, the industry could probably do a better job informing the “mom and pop risk” about the need for disaster planning. This could involve something as simple as “tak[ing] the computers off the floor and put[ting] them on a table,” he remarked.

Discussing what can go awry, he mentioned one company with generators on hand but no gas, and an auto dealership that moved its cars to high ground but not its records.

As an example of disaster planning success, he noted that of the nine hurricane-damaged casinos, the three that were quickly back up-and-running were taking in revenue that amounted to 65 percent of the take of all nine before the hurricane.

Ms. Roberts said General Star makes a point of analyzing and revising its disaster plans after every major catastrophe. She catalogued changes that were made after Sept. 11, 2001 and the four hurricanes of 2004.

The points she mentioned included improved communications plans, providing adjusters with longitude and latitude so they could locate properties without street signs, advertising, and a 24-hour telephone number on a Web site so clients could make contact.

In 2004, a surprise for her firm came in the area of regulatory demands for information, which it had difficulty providing in a timely fashion because of a cranky legacy system.

After Katrina, she said, the company found it lacked personal e-mail addresses and cell phone numbers to contact staff.

Ms. Roberts said it is critical to know where total accumulations of risk are and to have enough adjusters on hand. Her firm has trained casualty adjusters to handle property claims.

She also noted the importance of having electronic records-imaging.

Since Katrina, she said, “we tend to plan now for worst-case scenario.”

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Experts Share Katrina CAT Plan Lessons

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