Disaster planning topic of Risk Management Council meeting

GREENSBORO, N.C. (3/22/06)--The importance of developing a disaster plan drew nearly 130 credit union representatives to the latest quarterly meeting of the Risk Management Council of the North Carolina Credit Union League (NCCUL).

Throughout the session, the theme emerged that while disasters are measured in minutes, hours or days, disaster recovery may take months or years to complete.

"We learned that disaster plans should include responses to events that may take months to materialize," said Kimberly Bohannon, league assistant vice president of regulatory/compliance services.

Months after hurricanes dealt devastating blows to the Gulf Coast, credit union employees are being counseled for stress.

"It has been helpful to the management team in recognizing stress in the staff, the members--and ourselves," said Laurin Avara, executive vice president, Navigator CU, Pascagoula, Miss.

Avara noted a few essential items every disaster plan should address:

  • The cash needs of members before and after the storm hits;
  • The complete loss of paper documents;
  • Protection of all essential electronic data; and
  • Employee needs before, during and after the storm.

Postal Inspector Justin Crooks told tales of traveling to the Gulf Coast to help clean up at mail facilities during a meeting of the Risk Management Council of the North Carolina Credit Union League. (Photo provided by North Carolina Credit Union League).
Disaster plans should be ever-evolving as well. "Our disaster plan is never finished in the sense that it is constantly being updated as data systems and other processes change," said Frances Bradshaw, vice president of information services, First Carolina Corporate CU, Greensboro, N.C. "It's not enough to merely develop a plan--and then let it sit on the shelf and collect dust."

Scott Earl, director of disaster recovery and preparedness, Credit Union National Association, encouraged credit unions to form "buddy systems" with credit unions in other parts of the country to provide backup support when disaster strikes.

Local emergency management officer Steve Marks focused on creating disaster plans for homes.

An up-close look at the devastation was provided by Justin Crooks, a Charlotte-based U.S. postal inspector who traveled to the Gulf Coast in the wake of hurricanes Katrina and Rita.

Postal inspectors had to secure facilities and trucks and, in many cases, destroy mail that had been exposed to the storm.

Crooks also informed the group about money order fraud and offered a toll-free number that credit union staff may call to verify the authenticity of a money order.

Credit unions in both Carolinas have been hit by money order fraud in the past year with thousands of dollars in losses in some cases.

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