For anyone who lived through a natural or man-made disaster: floods, fires, or once-in-a-century storms causing blackouts, an emergency grab-and-go kit that is easy to take with them had proven to be a lifesaver.

In Canada, the recent 2022 events that we have experienced should have us asking: “how do I emergency-proof my life including my finances?” With recent storms that caused lengthy blackouts and the Rogers outage that unplugged telecommunications for many people and businesses, one important answer is obvious: always have some cash on hand.

The daylong Rogers outage demonstrated being without cash could be a problem living in today’s digital banking world. Consider keeping some cash in your wallet and having some cash in small bills at home in your emergency grab-and-go kit.

In times of emergency, cash on hand could also be a calming factor. Without argument, electronic payments – debit, credit, e-transfers, and digital wallets such as Apple Pay, PayPal and Venmo are all about today’s modern conveniences and security. However, during an emergency, it is prudent to have a backup plan in the form of good old fashioned cash.

Indeed, cash is still king!

If you want to set up your own grab-&-go kit, search “emergency kit supply list” online and you will find a number of results. You could also refer to our previous articles in the past: “Being Prepared” (2018), and “How Crisis Communication Works When the Power is Down” (2019).

It’s Important to Keep the Lines of Communication Open Even When the Grid is Down

In North America, and around the world for that matter, our communication system is largely tied to the power grid.  If the power goes out, we could find ourselves cut off.  Cut off from the news.  Cut off from employers and fellow employees.  Cut off from friends and family.  Cut off from vital information.

This is could lead to a dangerous situation.

Not having access to the media could leave you without news of what is happening… information that could be critical to your survival during the aftermath of a natural disaster, terrorist attack, or power grid collapse.

Imagine, no phone and no Internet access.  You, your company, your employees, would be hard pressed to connect and regroup with your loved ones, a particularly daunting scenario.

But with a little preparation you can make sure that you have access to information and the ability to connect with friends, family, employees, customers and colleagues.  Even if the power is completely down.

A Cell Phone is Your First Line of Defence in Crisis Communication

A smart phone is must have during a power outage.  It’s especially helpful in the first hours after the power goes down.  With a fully charged battery, the average smart phone will continue to operate for several hours.  Cell phone towers need power, but most have back-up power systems.  In the first hours of a crisis, cell phone networks usually stay up.  So, your smart phone can keep you connected.

A phone with a data package for Internet access and texting is your best option.  It gives you multiple ways to communicate with those who are important to you.  Call volume during a widespread crisis is very high, so you may not be able to connect through a phone call.  But text messages and email use fewer resources.  They give you a better chance of getting through to whomever you need to reach.

Keep in mind that your phone’s battery life is finite.  Without a working outlet to plug into, its usefulness is limited.  Unless you have a solar charger.  You can purchase a solar charger for small electronics like a cellphone economically on-line.

With a solar charger, as long as there is sunlight and as long as cell phone towers continue functioning, you’ll still have a means of crisis communication.

A Cell Phone Connection Without a Cell Phone Tower

Even if cell phone towers go down, that doesn’t mean that your cell phone has to be rendered useless.  A new bit of technology can keep it working even if the towers fail.  It’s called goTenna.

With goTenna, you can continue to send text messages and GPS information.  It works with your smart phone and blue tooth wireless to set up communication with other smart phones using a shared goTenna.  That means you and your employees, family, and friends can communicate over as distance, no cell towers required.

With a small solar charger for your phone an your goTenna, this system can work indefinitely.  Plus, it’s completely secure — anyone who is not on your network cannot listen in.  

A Standard Land Line Can Be a Lifesaver

Older model landline telephones don›t need power to work.  It’s a good idea to keep at least one of these traditional telephones around. Just plug it in to the phone jack, and then you can dial out.  No electrical grid required.

One important preparedness step that you can take today is to put together a low-tech, paper-version listing of your key-contacts, including their email addresses and telephone numbers.

Smart phones are wonderful for keeping and organizing phone numbers.  But if our smart phone dies and your landline is the only way to communicate with employees, customers, friends and family during an outage — how will you call them if you don’t know and can’t access their number?

Crisis Communication the Old Fashioned Way

During a power outage, or any major emergency, you need up-to-date information on what’s happening.  Radio announcements can warn you of local danger.  Or provide evacuation information.  Or give you instructions for dealing with the situation you’re in.  A crank radio is a smart investment.  With one of these, you can keep the information current, even when the power is down.  All it takes is a little ‘crank’ to charge up the radio, and then you can tune into local news broadcasts.

One or Two Items that Should Be In Your Grab and Go Evacuation Kit

Keep a cable and or a USB Ethernet adapter on hand (depending on the generation of computer you have) so you can connect your computer directly to the internet. Just because the power is out, doesn’t mean the internet is down. Wireless routers won’t work, but if you connect a laptop directly to your internet jack, you might discover you have internet access.

That means access to the media, email, and social media. Use these networks to help you stay on top of the situation and to help you connect and coordinate with employees, customers, stakeholders, family and friends.
Living in the digital age makes us more dependent on the power grid than ever before. But it also gives us some creative options for staying on top of crisis communication during an emergency… even if the usual means of communication are down. Take advantage of these creative solutions and put together a back-up communication plan. It could make all the difference when it comes to surviving a power grid collapse.

Article from Canadian Underwriter, June 2018 

What’s New in Nuclear Claims Handling 

David Gambrill Editor-in-Chief

A pool of Canadian nuclear insurers has created a state-of-the-art, made-in-Canada claims administration system for handling nuclear incidents.

The Nuclear Insurance Association of Canada (NIAC), a domestic pool of Canadian insurers and reinsurers, has developed a new, made-in-Canada, end-to-end claims administration system to respond to nuclear claims.

Two legislative changes last year prompted the development of NIAC’s innovative claims solution. First, the Nuclear Liability and Compensation Act (NLCA) came into force in January 2017, broadening the heads of damages for eligible claimants and increasing operator’s limits of liability to $1 billion. Second, Canada entered into the Convention on Supplementary Compensation for Nuclear Damage, a multilateral international treaty to establish a global nuclear civil liability regime.

Taken together, these two milestones called for a new approach to claims response.

“Nuclear liability claims are completely unique because they combine the most challenging aspects of a catastrophe-type claim, a class action type claim, and a casualty-type claim,” Wendy Hayden, manager of underwriting and operations for NIAC, said at the 2018 Leadership Forum held on March 1 in Toronto.

Elaborating in response to questions from Canadian Underwriter, Hayden noted that claims related to nuclear incidents would be third-party losses as opposed to first-party losses, which changes the relationship between claimants and the insurers.

“A large number of cat losses are weather related and there would likely be a number of insurers handling claims for their customers,” Hayden says by way of example. “Most commercial, homeowner and automobile policies exclude nuclear peril, so the losses would not be first-party, but rather third-party losses handled by insurers of the nuclear operator.”

Nuclear operators are required to carry insurance using the policy wording approved by Natural Resources Canada in accordance to the Nuclear Liability and Compensation Act [NLCA].

MADE-IN-CANADA APPROACH 

After two years of consultation with experts in Canada’s property and casualty insurance industry, NIAC developed a multifaceted, made-in-Canada claims administration system. In addition, NIAC can provide centralized claims administration with the common goal to protect the public on behalf of all payors; this initiative was encouraged by the federal government.

The system “brings the complex world of nuclear to the complex world of insurance by delivering an innovative system for managing high-frequency, low-touch claims,” NIAC says.

One crucial aspect is scalability of claims response. “Coupled with multiple factors of a cat loss, the capability to scale claims administration for the event is important,” Hayden says.

“For example, we have considered factors such as a loss in an urban versus rural location, where population size would vary, or an evacuation versus a non-evacuation scenario. In each instance, we have considered what NIAC would need to do to handle claimants’ needs in a responsive, fair and equitable way.”

NUCLEAR CLAIM RESPONSE 

Another notable aspect of the claims administration system is the difference between emergency response – which is the responsibility of the nuclear operator and government – and claims response.

For example, once NIAC is aware of a nuclear incident, it would receive notification and collect information from the operator. NIAC would also get information from other stakeholders as to what is known about the specific event. Using this information, a NIAC team would meet to make an initial assessment.

This assessment would determine the scale of the claims response, as well as what would be required over the next 24 or 48 hours. It would involve communicating with NIAC’s pool members, other payors, and the adjusting firm with which NIAC partnered for claims services to start engaging with claimants.

The emergency claims administration phase is expected to last anywhere from weeks to several months, but it would not likely be the full length of the response.

“After the emergency claims response is the second recovery claims response phase,” says Hayden. “These will be the more complex claims, and the ones that take longer to settle.They will be settled in the more traditional way of handling claims. You’d get the claim, you’d start investigating it, and experts would be consulted.” If the total amount of claims gets close to policy limits, NIAC would notify the government and they may wish to initiate the tribunal, as set out in the NLCA.

The claims administration system has a claims website ready to be “switched on” to go live in the event of a nuclear claims situation. Claimants would be

able to file a notice of loss electronically, in addition to using a dedicated call-in telephone number to the call centre.

Social media is part of the claims response communications strategy for getting information out to the public. “Lessons learned from recent events such as the Fort McMurray wild res and hurricanes affecting the eastern seaboard of the United States is that there is value in having a social media network ready for dealing with communications that works in conjunction with NIAC’s claims administration,” Hayden told Canadian Underwriter. “We believe social media is important for our customers, claimants as well as other valued stakeholders.”

Canadian Underwriter June 2018