While there’s no arguing that recovering from natural disasters can be a long and challenging process, according to Jay Shelton, senior vice president of risk management services at Assurance, small businesses canrecover. “Ease the stress on everyone involved with a proper business continuity and disaster plan in place,” he explained. “Proper planning can limit exposure to economic turmoil, especially if you’re forced to close operations for a period of time. Additionally, it can limit lawsuits from clients, customers and employees.”

• Develop actionable plans for every type of disaster that could affect your location.
• Ensure you have proper insurance coverage.
• Keep copies of insurance policies and other critical documents in a safe, accessible location.
• Create communication procedures so employees, vendors and customers know how to reach you.
• Make sure your staff is familiar with and understands the plan.

“If the business is properly insured then restoring and rebuilding the business to its pre-loss conditions should not be an issue,” said Ronald Delo, president of Insurance Claim Consultants.

“Every year, business owners must re-evaluate insurance policies to ensure policy coverage limits are right at or above the correct appraised value for the both the structure and business property. Purchasing extra coverage such as business interruption, loss of use, extended coverage and extra expenses will ensure the highest probability of a full and prompt recovery.”

So instead of worrying about “what if,” maybe it’s best to look at the “how to” and be as prepared as possible in the event that something unfortunate strikes.