For more information or to join the coalition, contact LBA Chief Operating Officer Ginger Laurent at laurent@lba.org

Meeting Notes

Well, 2020 will be a year to remember.  The Louisiana Emergency Preparedness Coalition Meetings got upstaged by COVID-19 and the Coronavirus which has its own webpage of resources and information.  Even though the annual coalition meetings were cancelled, the resources in this document and on this webpage are valuable as we prepare for additional emergency events.

The coalition is comprised of financial institutions, regulators, emergency personnel, law enforcement, weather service personnel and armored carriers.

Natural emergencies begin and end locally.  In the event of an emergency, decisions are made at the local level; therefore, it is vital that the financial institutions build strong working relationships with their local law enforcement and emergency personnel.  The way the system is designed is that the local and parish emergency personnel make decisions and take charge of an emergency event in their particular area until their resources are depleted then they call the state in for assistance.  By building relationships on the local level, the bankers will be more on top of any given situation than if they wait for news from the state level.

The first 72 is on you which means that you, personally and your business need to be able to take care of yourself for the first 72 hours after a natural emergency event.  After that, assistance should be available.

The Louisiana Business Emergency Operations Center is a collaboration among the Governor’s Office of Homeland Security and Emergency Preparedness, Louisiana Department of Economic Development, LSU’s Stephenson’s Disaster Management Institution and UL Lafayette’s National Incident Management Systems and Advanced Technologies Institute.  The Louisiana Emergency Preparedness Coalition represents the financial sector with the LABEOC.  The goal of the BEOC is for private industries to come together to form a partnership with government to be better prepared for an emergency event and to be able to respond to and recover more effectively from an emergency event.  The physical BEOC facility is housed at ULL’s NIMSAT headquarters in Abdalla Hall in Lafayette.  Financial institutions should register on the LABEOC website, www.labeoc.org, to view situational analysis throughout an emergency event.  Banks may want to register a contact person from each branch and let customers know that they can register, also.  The benefits of registering: (1) situational awareness, (2) ability to request goods and services, (3) ability to provide goods and services, (4) assist GOHSEP when contracts are exhausted.  I think the biggest benefit to the financial institution is the ability to have ongoing situational awareness updates.  In addition, for the financial institution’s customers, this connection may give them the opportunity for work during an emergency event when they may otherwise be without work.  

Financial Institutions are encouraged to talk with their customers about emergency preparedness.

Click here to download a complete copy of the meeting notes .

Federal Reserve

2020 Hurricane Customer Letter

Federal Reserve Bank of St. Louis, Memphis Branch contact information:

National Weather Service Resources

NWS Lake Charles 2020 Hurricane Season Outlook & Preparedness Webinar: Presentation slides & Webinar recording 

NWS New Orleans/Baton Rouge Weather Forecast Office 2020 Hurricane Season Preparedness presentation