disaster strikes a business when a New York-based businessman described how his company was affected by the World Trade Center bombing last year.

Mr. Peter Kipe, with Guy Carpenter, was speaking at a Bermuda Insurance Institute seminar yesterday. Half of the respondents to a recent BII survey do not have a disaster recovery plan.

Mr. Kipe said his company was the third largest tenant in the World Trade Center and occupied floors 49 through 54.

The company had to move its operations to parent company Marsh & McLennan's head office.

Mr. Kipe said the company, after getting telephone calls redirected to the temporary office, found themselves without items like paper clips -- not to mention critical client information.

"A disaster recovery plan has to assume access to the building will be interrupted, we did not know when we'd be back in,'' he commented.

In the days just after the bombing, small numbers of staff were allowed to go into the offices for limited times. The information needed ranged from financial data to staff rolodexes. Staff and equipment returned to the centre on April 5 -- the bombing occurred February 26.

According to Mr. Kipe, Guy Carpenter, after a fire at a sister company in Philadelphia and before the bombing, recognised the need for a disaster plan and they developed one. But he said he thinks there is room for improvement today.

Mr. Paul Rowlerson, vice president at Johnson and Higgins (Bermuda) Ltd., referring to the BII study, said there is room for improvement in Bermuda as well.

Of the 40 BII members who responded to the survey -- 112 were polled -- 21 said they have no plan and 90 percent of the "have nots'' were aware of the need for a backup procedure while 61 percent of the replies conceded they had no off-site computer backup plan.

The survey, which also showed over half with a disaster plan have never tested it, was released as part of yesterday's BII-organised half-day seminar on contingency planning for businesses. The seminar was held at the Hamilton Princess.

Mr. Rowlerson, said the Island's businesses have improved the way they look at potential in-house disasters.

"It is no longer acceptable to ignore potential damage to business by catastrophe,'' he said.

Because Bermuda has assumed a larger role in the international business community, businesses have felt pressure to be better equipped to handle business disasters, he added.

Johnson and Higgins, with operations in other jurisdictions has addressed the issue by ensuring that each location has the same information systems.

Disaster planning can also be used as a "sales tool'' to seize business away from competitors, he noted.

"We have all had to leave our offices for planned fire alarms but few of us think about what we will do if we can't get back in to the building,'' he added.

One person said companies with their own disaster contingency plan should pay lower premiums for business interruption insurance. About half the survey respondents carry that type of insurance.

Mr. Alastair Williams, from Oil Insurance Ltd., noted planning is especially relevant to Bermuda because of potential lengthy delays in getting replacement equipment.

Mr. Peter Frese, director of management services at accountants Kempe and Whittle, and one of several speakers at the seminar, said: "You need to take action back at the office.'' He estimated ninety percent of companies who don not have a contingency plan and undergo disaster are out of business within a year of the incident.