As meteorologists track several storms threatening Hawaii,Florida and part of the east coast, it is a good time for creditunions to review plans for possible emergencies and businessdisruption.

In a June 2009 letter, the NCUA urged all federally insuredcredit unions to perform a review of their hurricane preparednessand response plans. “These plans should be commensurate with thecomplexity of operations and focus on minimizing interruptions ofservice to members and maintaining member confidence in times of anemergency.”

The NCUA suggested previous disastersprovided many lessons learned in working through a disaster;and the destruction and disruption since from Hurricane Irene in2011 and Superstorm Sandy in 2012, in particular, providedadditional lessons.

To that end, the NCUA urges all federally insured credit unionsto perform periodic routine reviews of their disaster preparedness and response plans.

“While we always hope for the best, it is prudent that we planand prepare for the worst,” the NCUA hurricane preparednessWeb page suggested.

The plan recommended includes:

• Implementing pre-disaster actions to ensure a constant state ofreadiness and take steps to safeguard assets and vital records ifan early warning is received.
• Communicating disaster preparedness and response effortsbefore, during, and after an emergency to keep members, volunteers,employees, and regulators fully aware of the situation.Utilizing across-section of people to develop, test, and implement disasterpreparedness and response plans.
• Ensuring back-ups are available for not only data but alsopersonnel, worksites, equipment, vendors, and other resources.
• Treating disaster preparedness and response plans as livingdocuments that need to be updated as circumstances change.