Planning
Eases Stress From Natural Disasters
Sometimes it seems there's a new natural disaster each
year: hurricanes on the Gulf Coast, wildfires in the Southwest, earthquakes
on the West Coast, flooding in the Northeast. Congregations have the
challenge of being prepared for these disasters, both in caring for
their members in times of crises and in protecting their buildings with
adequate and appropriate insurance coverage.
When multiple hurricanes struck Florida in 2004 the first challenge
that congregations faced was locating members who had fled from the
hurricanes, were staying with friends or relatives, or had no way to
communicate. After the hurricane season, the Rev. Mary Higgins, then
the district executive of the Florida
District, sat down with congregational leaders and developed a Hurricane
Preparedness Manual (floridadistrict.org/library.htm).
At the top of the list was how to maintain contact with members. The
Florida team developed a "Summer Emergency Phone Tree" that
any congregation with advance knowledge of a disaster could use.
Harvie Heckes, now president of the UU
Church of Fort Myers (219 members), was part of that Florida team.
As a result, his congregation is now better able to keep track of friends
and members in advance of storms. They developed a Caring Network and
one of its responsibilities is to contact everyone before a storm to
find out if they're staying in town, will be with relatives, etc. Through
this plan some members have invited other members into their homes,
which Heckes says was part of the purpose. "I'd still like to see
us do more," he says, "but this is a start."
Make sure you know what your congregation's property insurance policy
covers. At one point the First Unitarian
Universalist Church of New Orleans (82) was covered for flood damage.
After Hurricane Katrina they discovered that that coverage had been
dropped and the church had primarily wind coverage, but not protection
from flooding.
"It's just something that happened," says First UU Treasurer
Ann Maclaine. "Given the nature of lay leadership and looking to
save money we lost sight of the fact we no longer had flood insurance.
We're not blaming anyone. The lesson here is to periodically review
coverage. Make sure your coverages match your risks." She says
flood insurance would not have covered all of the congregation's losses,
but it would have greatly helped.
Patrick Moreland, vice president of marketing for Church
Mutual, which insures about 60 percent of all UU congregations,
reminds that most policies cover against wind but not flood. "There's
stuff floating around in the media about 'hurricane endorsements,'"
he says. "I don't know what policies would have that."
Moreland encourages congregations to buy flood coverage if they're in
an area that could possibly be impacted. Insurance dollar limits are
another issue. When they call on churches they don't insure, he says,
sales reps may recommend a much higher limit than what the church is
carrying. This is based on replacement cost. "Maybe a church is
insured for $500,000 and we show the replacement cost is a million,"
says Moreland. "If you have a loss you have to decide at which
level you want to be."
Also look at the extra expenses you'll have following a loss, he says,
including building rental, lost rental income, and buying new office
equipment.
Cilla Raughley, district executive for the Pacific
Central District encourages congregations to invite members to create
emergency kits with food and water for three days, develop evacuation
and emergency contact plans, and shut off utilities and preserve vital
records, including copies of insurance. She also refers them to a disaster
preparation plan developed by The Alban Institute: alban.org/weekly/2005/051003_DisasterPrep.asp.
"Sitting here in earthquake and fire country, it would be good
for all of us to have a plan," she says.
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