Miscellaneous Documents:

2016 Emergency Preparedness Meeting Notes
(Microsoft Word Document)

Federal Reserve Bank of Atlanta, New Orleans Branch Materials:

FDIC materials:

LA Dept of Health and Hospitals Office of Public Health Zika Virus Information:

Department of Homeland Security Resources:

C-IST Fact Sheet
(Adobe PDF File)
ICS Assessments
(Adobe PDF File)
Cyber Hygiene
(Adobe PDF File)
CRR Fact Sheet
(Adobe PDF File)
Cybersecurity Incident Guide
(Adobe PDF File)
DHS Cyber Resources
(Adobe PDF File)

National Weather Service:

Active Shooter Resources:

To download the active shooter video go to www.youtube.com and search Run, Hide, Fight.  There are several active shooter videos that you can access for your training.  The most viewed video is at https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5VcSwejU2D0.

FEMA Resources:

  • https://www.fema.gov/news-release/2016/03/13/president-declares-major-disaster-louisiana

  • http://www.fema.gov/news-release/2016/03/13/federal-aid-programs-state-louisiana#

  • We had a question from a banker saying that they are beginning to have customers bring in FEMA checks after the flood events in Louisiana in the first quarter of 2016 and was wondering if there was a way to verify those checks.

    • This is the answer we received from FEMA:

      • §  If it is a disaster relief payment, they can call the Disaster Assistance Customer Service number at 1-800-621-FEMA(3362). 

      • §  If it is either claims checks or refund checks on policies, these are issued by the insurance companies with FEMA as the payer since FEMA administers the NFIP.  There is no website to verify these checks since they are issued from close to 90 insurance companies.  The insurance companies would need to be contacted to verify them.  I have included a link for the participating companies and their contact information below.  http://www.fema.gov/wyo_company

  • FEMA reminds individuals of the importance of compiling and securely storing critical financial, insurance, medical and other records. Having such documentation can help begin and facilitate the recovery process following a disaster or emergency. To assist individuals with this important task, FEMA reminds consumers of the availability of the Emergency Financial First Aid Kit, published in September 2015, which contains four important steps to financial preparedness:

    • Assemble important documents and contacts;

    • Review insurance policies and financial paperwork to ensure that they are still accurate and current;

    • Store paper and electronic copies of all files in safe locations; and

    • Revisit and update the kit on a regular schedule – especially following a major life event.

    • The kit contains several checklists for gathering household, medical, and financial and legal documents. It also includes a section on how to keep these documents and other information safe. Access the EFFAK.

  • Fiscal year 2016 FEMA Emergency Management Institute training schedule, https://training.fema.gov/emigrams/2015/1178%20-%20training%20bulletin%20-%20revised%20-%20vttx%20program%202016%20-%208-7-2015.pdf?d=8/7/2015.

  • Preparing Your Business for Earthquakes and Floods

    • FEMA’s PrepareAthon! Campaign has released several resources to help business prepare for and respond to earthquakes and floods. The first resource, Prepare Your Organization for an Earthquake Playbook, provides tools and resources to help you conduct an America’s PrepareAthon! Day of Action by holding a preparedness discussion and conducting a tabletop exercise

    • The second resource, Prepare Your Organization for a Flood Playbook, provides suggestions on conducting a day of action by holding a preparedness discussion and simple drill. These guides also present step-by-step instructions on conducting a tabletop exercise designed to help organizations test their plans, policies, and procedures for a disaster. To learn more about the campaign and to access additional resources, visit http://community.fema.gov/about.

  • FEMA Launches New Preparedness Feature to Smartphone App

    • FEMA recently launched a new feature to its free smartphone app to enable users to receive push notifications to their devices to remind them to take important steps to prepare their homes and families for disasters. The reminder feature allows users to receive pre-scheduled safety and preparedness tips, including testing smoke alarms, practicing a fire escape plan, updating emergency kits and replacing smoke alarm batteries.

    • The app also provides a customizable checklist of emergency supplies, maps of open shelters and open recovery centers, and tips on how to survive natural and manmade disasters. The FEMA app offers a feature that enables users to receive push notifications of weather alerts from the National Weather Service for up to five locations across the nation.

    • The latest version of the FEMA app is available for free in the App Store for Apple devices and Google Play for Android devices

2016 Louisiana Emergency Preparedness Coalition Overview

During April and May, coalition members attended meetings held in Alexandria, Baton Rouge, Covington, Gretna, Lafayette, Lafourche Parish, Monroe, Shreveport and West Lake.

The coalition is comprised of financial institutions, regulators, emergency personnel, law enforcement, weather service personnel and armored carriers.  The primary purpose of the emergency preparedness meetings is to bring together coalition members to foster working relationships that ensure better preparedness for and more effective recovery from an emergency event. 

Emergencies begin and end locally.  In the event of an emergency, decisions are made at the local level; therefore, it is vital that the financial institutions build strong working relationships with their local law enforcement and emergency personnel.  The way the system is designed is that the local and parish emergency personnel make decisions and take charge of an emergency event in their particular area until their resources are depleted then they call the state in for assistance.  By building relationships on the local level, the bankers will be more on top of any given situation than if they wait for news from the state level.

The first 72 is on you which means that you, personally and your business need to be able to take care of yourself for the first 72 hours after an emergency event.  After that, assistance should be available.

The Louisiana Business Emergency Operations Center is collaboration among the Governor’s Office of Homeland Security and Emergency Preparedness, Louisiana Department of Economic Development, LSU’s Stephenson’s Disaster Management Institution and UL Lafayette’s National Incident Management Systems and Advanced Technologies Institute.  The Louisiana Emergency Preparedness Coalition represents the financial sector with the LABEOC.  The goal of the BEOC is for private industries to come together to form a partnership with government to be better prepared for an emergency event and respond to and recover more effectively from an emergency event.  The physical BEOC facility is housed at ULL’s NIMSAT headquarters in Abdalla Hall in Lafayette.  Banks should register on the LABEOC website, www.labeoc.org, to view situational analysis throughout an emergency event.  Banks may want to register a contact person from each branch and let customers know that they can register, also.  The benefits of registering:  (1) situational awareness, (2) ability to request goods and services, (3) ability to provide goods and services, (4) assist GOHSEP when contracts are exhausted.  I think the biggest benefit to the bank is the ability to have ongoing situational awareness updates.  And, for the bank’s customers, this connection may give them the opportunity for work during an emergency event when they may otherwise be without work.  See a You Tube video explaining LABEOC at http://youtu.be/XWWXHpVLMcI.  

Community Emergency Response Team training is available in most regions.  The national website is http://www.citizencorps.gov/cert/.  Contact your local emergency operations office for details and to schedule training for your bank employees if interested.

Financial Institutions are encouraged to talk with their customers about emergency preparedness.

The Red Cross has several mobile apps that you may be interested in, http://www.redcross.org/prepare/mobile-apps.  Red Cross is available to do outreach presentations to groups and companies.  They encourage you to like their face book page.  Also, they remind you to have a hard copy of contact information.

One bank uses Voicenation for phone message service, 866-766-5050, www.voicenation.com.  One bank is using Rapid Cast from High Ground Solutions to communicate with employees, http://highgroundsolutions.com/rapidcast/.  It can send email blasts, text blasts and can convert voice to text.

You can get enhanced 911 (E911) apps for cell phones that will allow the cell company to release geocode to 911 responders so that they can locate you in the event of an emergency. 

For more information or to join the coalition, contact 
LBA Chief Operating Officer Ginger Laurent at 
laurent@lba.org.