Last year's deadly tornadoes in the South and flooding across New England from Tropical Storm Irene were reminders that disaster planning is vitally important, especially for colleges.

At last month’s Community College Conference on Legal Issues in Orlando, Fla., John McLaughlin of insurer Arthur J. Gallagher & Co., and Chauncey Fagler, executive director of the Florida College System Risk Management Consortium, said college officials can prepare for natural disasters by anticipating a college’s vulnerability before meteorologists forecast trouble.

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Fagler, who worked with Florida’s community colleges after multiple hurricanes hit the state in 2005, advised college officials to visit the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) website to become familiar with what to expect when a disaster occurs. In addition, Fagler recommended setting up response teams in advance, including signing contracts with local contractors so they will be available immediately after a disaster to begin emergency repairs.

After a campus is hit by disaster, record-keeping and documentation are the key to working with FEMA, Fagler said. He suggested designating one person in finance to work with one person in facilities, whose sole jobs are to document the recovery and handle insurance and FEMA issues. 

“This can go on for five or six years,” Fagler said. “If your comptroller becomes the point person, someone else will have to do his job during that time.” 

Beaty is a writer for Valencia College (Florida).