Head for the hills
A report ordered by President Bush after Hurricane Katrina to inventory the nation's emergency preparedness has concluded that only 10 states have acceptable plans in place to deal with major disasters. Why doesn't that surprise me?
The report, prepared by the Department of Homeland Security, found that emergency preparedness plans in most states, and in most of the 75 cities it studied, don't have clear chains of command, don't provide adequate public warning and don't make adequate provision for people with special needs. Emergency responders also don't communicate well - if at all - in a crisis, the report said.
New Jersey, unfortunately, was not one of the 10 states the DHS deemed prepared. The two New Jersey cities it studied - Newark or Jersey City - also were considered ill-prepared.
The report will do nothing to ease the concerns of people living near the Oyster Creek nuclear power plant. The homeland security folks said mass evacuation plans throughout the country were inadequate in nine out of 10 cases and were "an area of profound concern."
The report, prepared by the Department of Homeland Security, found that emergency preparedness plans in most states, and in most of the 75 cities it studied, don't have clear chains of command, don't provide adequate public warning and don't make adequate provision for people with special needs. Emergency responders also don't communicate well - if at all - in a crisis, the report said.
New Jersey, unfortunately, was not one of the 10 states the DHS deemed prepared. The two New Jersey cities it studied - Newark or Jersey City - also were considered ill-prepared.
The report will do nothing to ease the concerns of people living near the Oyster Creek nuclear power plant. The homeland security folks said mass evacuation plans throughout the country were inadequate in nine out of 10 cases and were "an area of profound concern."
posted by Randy Bergmann at 11:37 AM
1 Comments:
The emergency preparedness plans for major disasters was for all major disasters. What that means is that although all disaster plans for nuclear power plants are acceptable, that fact cannot pull an entire state into the acceptable column. That is because nuclear power plant disasters (which never happen in the US) are only a tiny fraction of all the disasters for which plans must be made.
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