NU Online News Service, Aug. 21, 3:38 p.m. EDT

Two insurers said they are sending out personnel with a mobile claim center to visit eight cities and educate the public on natural disaster preparedness.

Farmers , both part of the Zurich Financial Services Group, announced the launch of a 43-day bus tour through the Midwest and West regions with its first visit to Houston.

The 46 foot Mobile Claims Center bus will visit Dallas; St. Louis; Los Angeles; Denver; Lansing, Mich.; Chicago; and the twin cities of Minneapolis and St. Paul, Minn.

At Houston they will emphasize hurricane preparedness, the company said, with 50 experts (called HelpPoint advocates) in seasonal catastrophes, risk engineering, preparedness and claims adjustment on hand to explain to homeowners, auto owners and business owners how to be prepared for disaster.

The bus is one of three Mobile Claims Centers with a fleet of 39 smaller Customer Care Vehicles. The fleet is loaded with communication equipment, supplies, food, generators, laptop computers and satellite phone service for victims to use at a catastrophe site, explained F. Robert Woudstra, chief executive officer of Farmers.

"This first ever Farmers-Zurich HelpPoint catastrophe bus tour is our effort to better prepare property and business owners for life changing events like natural disasters," said Mr. Woudstra in a statement.

"As our newest catastrophe bus travels across the country on this tour, we'll raise awareness on how our customers can best respond before, during and after a disaster," he explained.

"Our HelpPoint advocates will share important information for both business and homeowners at each stop along the tour," said Mike Foley, CEO of Zurich North America Commercial. "Being ready for a natural disaster is the best way to quickly recover from one. The tour will demonstrate the capabilities of Farmers Insurance and Zurich to help customers when catastrophes strike."

Jerry Davis, Farmers spokesman, said the cities chosen for the tour were those the mobile units have visited in the past two years. New Orleans was not on the tour list because the company sent two busses and 10 of the smaller vehicles there for three weeks in April during the Zurich Classic golf tournament.

The busses will be stationed at prominent points in each city, Minute Maid Park in Houston, the Fire Fighters Museum in Chicago, the Convention Center in Dallas, the Gateway Arch in St. Louis, and the grounds of state capital buildings elsewhere, he said. The public is made aware of the buses through the media and the company's agents.

In the past, these vehicles, equipped with portable kitchens and tents, have fed both the victims of disasters and first responders, opened communication lines to the outside world for those without power, and supplied essentials for survival.

Paul Quinn, assistant vice president of claims and communications who heads up the bus effort, said seeing the gratitude in the eyes of the people who have visited the care centers during past disasters is the most satisfying experience he has had in his 32 years in the business.

He said "the comfort they feel is hard to describe."

Mr. Quinn added, "We have stuffed animals for the little kids when they are displaced so you can give them something to hold on to; something they can hug. It makes you very proud that you made the decision you made to work for the organization we do."

Special Reports /

To Brief Public On Disaster Prep, Farmers-Zurich Launches Bus Tour

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