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67 designated disaster areas. For servicers and investors with properties in a disaster area, this includes all of the appraisers, inspectors, BPO providers, real estate agents, field services personnel, and others who are the "boots on the ground" during the emergency. While our industry has a heavy reliance on analytics, without these people, nothing can get done, and we would not have data to fuel our analytics. Each of them is deemed critical. If the last 19 months have taught us anything, it's the importance of being able to pivot in extreme and unpredictable situations. It also taught us to break our problems down to smaller situations that can be handled without getting paralyzed by the enormity of the situation. at was absolutely the case when we were working in Puerto Rico, but it doesn't take a storm the size of a hurricane to create this kind of situation, nor to develop viable solutions. A few weeks before this article was written, I was having dinner with my family when I got a call from our college-aged daughters at school in Arkansas. e authorities had just told them to return to their apartment building and take shelter in the basement. at's not something we had heard before, even residing in a state that is no stranger to dangerous storms. ey heeded the warning, returned 30 minutes later, and advised they were safe. I did not put much more thought into it. When the sun came up the next day, we saw why the urgent warning had been issued. I remember looking at the destruction and asking myself who we could call who hadn't been compromised by the storm—and I had immediate concern for our colleagues in the area. e mindshift was immediate and urgent and the feeling helpless. Over the past couple of years, the infrastructure of our industry has been severely tested. Contractors and subcontractors play a critical role in our process. Helping them prepare for the worst is just part of our own disaster-recovery plans. 4. FOCUS ON BRAND e industry's larger companies pay a lot of attention to their brands in the marketplace, as they should. But during a crisis, it becomes obvious that our brands are heavily influenced by the people we work with in the field. For the most part, these are smaller firms and providers that may not have the resources to spend on branding or even training for all of their employees. Even when we work with larger regional players, they will often contract with the smaller local players who are already in the disaster area. Most larger firms take advantage of industry events and conferences, coming together to share information and learn from each other. It's important to create and include modules suitable for these smaller players and invite them to join with us in preparation for what may come. is training must go beyond just getting new business or a new REO listing to empower them to operate more effective businesses, especially in the face of a natural disaster. Many of the larger firms provide training internally to remain in compliance with federal and state regulations. We should open that door to our smaller partners and contractors to help them build stronger businesses and to be ready in the case of disaster. 5. REFLECT, REGROUP, AND RESTART (IF A BUSINESS CLOSES/MERGES, ETC.) Finally, after the crisis has passed and the situation is under control, it's time to make sure that our partners in the field are back up to full strength and help those who suffered the worst to restart their businesses. ose of us working in larger firms should not forget that even a single-person shop requires infrastructure to operate. Some of that we expect them to bring to the table, but some of that infrastructure, we must provide. is means assisting our clients by assisting our providers where we can so that they may address the impact of hazards and recover and continue operations as quickly as possible. Angela Hurst is SVP at RES.NET and US Real Estate Services. She has more than 30 years of success in the real estate and mortgage banking industries. She can be reached at angela.hurst@res.net. Too often, we find disaster plans that don't spell out how clients and partners and providers will work together in a crisis. Bridging this gap is critical to supporting consumers.