Disaster Recovery: SBDC Services for Small Business

As with all of their consulting services, there is no charge for the confidential assistance provided by the SBDC in the aftermath of a disaster. Highly trained, disaster-experienced SBDC advisors will assist with the following:

• Completing SBA disaster loan applications
• Finding information about available financial assistance and claim filing
• Filling out requests for loans, claims, and assistance forms
• Helping re-create lost financial records, if necessary, to document losses
• Locating and setting up short-term and permanent replacement facilities
• Assessing environmental cleanup options
• Developing an emergency response plan for the business
• Strategic planning for rebuilding the business and marketing to new potential customers
• Identifying and addressing other issues of concern to affected businesses
• Developing a business continuity plan for response to potential future disasters

A few thoughts from the Public Entity Research Institute:

Unless the business owner makes good decisions about recovery, the largest losses to the business come in the years after disaster and not from the direct damage of the disaster itself. Disaster events cause problems for businesses unrelated to the amount of direct damage they sustain for the event and from related events, like fire following an earthquake. Following any large scale disaster in a community, things never get "back to normal." The community almost always changes permanently.

Experienced SBDC business advisors can provide the advice and support small business owners need to adjust to changes in the business community and the marketplace in the aftermath of a disaster.