WASHINGTON -- Information on disaster preparedness and recoveryhas been flowing from federal officials to both credit unions andtheir members since Hurricane Katrina focused attention on the needto anticipate problems and react appropriately.

The start of another hurricane season on June 1 and a major waveof tornadoes and flooding in the Midwest has underscored theurgency of such efforts.

NCUA's Office of Examination and Insurance indicates there hasbeen significant progress. They especially applaud efforts creditunions have made to update their disaster preparedness plans andtrain staff to implement those blueprints.

NCUA also points to another challenge it says credit unions areaddressing--getting ready for any possible pandemic, which wouldraise an additional set of concerns.

After Katrina, the Federal Financial Institutions ExaminationCouncil and the Conference of State Bank Supervisors issued areport on the lessons learned from Katrina. The analysishighlighted the major issues financial institutions in the affectedareas faced including, communication outages made it difficult tolocate missing personnel; access to restricted areas and reliabletransportation into those areas were not always available; lack ofelectrical power or fuel for generators made computer systemsinoperable; many facilities were destroyed or sustained significantdamage; some financial institution branches and ATMs wereunderwater for weeks; and disrupted mail service for months in someareas.

The lessons stemming from that situation, according to thereport, include disaster drills should include all criticalfunctions and areas; anticipate disruptions in communications,possibly for extended periods; take into account the fact criticalstaff may not be able to reach their assigned recovery location;replacement supplies may be difficult to obtain; alternatefacilities may be needed; back-up sites need to be located farenough away that they aren't affected, and be prepared to operatein a cash-only environment.

In March this year the FFIEC issued an updated businesscontinuity planning booklet, which stresses the importance ofanticipating problems whether systems are provided in-house orthrough third parties. The publication also includes statements onpandemic planning.

Consumers as well as financial institutions are beingincorporated into regulatory agencies disaster preparednessefforts. NCUA Chairman JoAnn Johnson announced in May that aNational Hurricane Center link, providing consumers withinformation on safe money management incase of a natural disasteror other emergency, is now featured on the "What's New" section ofthe MyMoney.gov Web site.

NCUA has also been supporting the U.S. Treasury's GoDirectdirect-deposit initiative.

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