Meeting Notes
The following details are an accumulation of years of coalition meetings, updated with the latest information. New additions to plans this year include:
- Keep generator oil and filters on hand
- Fuel options for generators; may consider dual-fuel generator
- Fuel options for employees returning to work before infrastructure is back
- Back up communications options
- Offsite disaster operations centers moving further away from main office
The coalition is comprised of financial institutions, regulators, emergency personnel, law enforcement, weather service personnel and armored carriers.
Natural 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 a natural emergency event. After that, assistance should be available.
The Louisiana Business Emergency Operations Center is a 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 to be able to 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. Financial institutions 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 financial institution is the ability to have ongoing situational awareness updates. In addition, for the financial institution’s customers, this connection may give them the opportunity for work during an emergency event when they may otherwise be without work.
Financial Institutions are encouraged to talk with their customers about emergency preparedness.