The irony of calling a CAT plan a cat plan shouldn't be lost on anyone. There are so many fangs, furry legs and moving parts to managing an earthquake catastrophe that any number of things can go wrong. The only way to herd the proverbial cat is through proper catastrophe planning. Here are some tips for agents, brokers and adjusters to help them give insureds an excellent claims experience following an earthquake.

1. Adequately staff the CAT team

An insurance company's CAT plan should start with adequate staffing. The response team needs to be large enough to provide a timely response to the number of commercial and personal lines properties that may be impacted in any particular geographic area. As an insurer's book grows, so too should its response team. CAT teams should include property underwriters, earthquake certified adjusters, contractors, engineers, geologists, forensic accountants, and designated support personnel from IT and accounting.

The insurer should contract with independent adjusters who are properly licensed in the state and experts who can deploy as soon as a quake occurs. The team should arrive on site to conduct initial inspections of every damaged property within days, if not hours. Remember that demand for quality insurance adjusters will rise dramatically after a quake, and it is easier to scale down rather than to find additional team members following a quake.

Although hiring additional temporary staff may be necessary, cross-training existing employees ahead of time to fulfill CAT team support roles provides better management.

2. Create a call tree and a CAT center

A quake with a magnitude large enough to result in damage should trigger communication to the team through the call tree. The call tree should include phone and e-mail contact information, as well as back up numbers for CAT team members. It should state the protocol for team notification and describe first responsibilities. An analysis of the quake's magnitude and damage radius must be done to determine how many policies in force may be affected and how many claims professionals, experts and ancillary personnel will need to be called into action.