Mass Evacuation Exercise Assistance Act

MASS EVACUATION EXERCISE ASSISTANCE ACT

Mr. DURBIN. Mr. President, I have introduced the Mass Evacuation Exercise Assistance Act, S. 2043. As we witnessed in the wake of recent natural disasters, our cities face special challenges and vulnerabilities when disaster strikes.

Part of disaster preparation at any level of government includes having well prepared and practiced evacuation plans. Otherwise, citizens can easily become trapped without food or water in a devastated area or along an escape route. To help cities prepare for future emergencies and evacuations, this bill will authorize a new 5-year grant program that will endow local governments with the funds to develop comprehensive evacuation plans, stage drills and exercises to perfect evacuation procedures, and stockpile materials to supply evacuation staging areas and evacuation routes. This legislation will serve to supplement existing grant programs rather than compete for already scarce homeland security grant funding.

I hope that my colleagues will join me in this effort that will simply provide cities and States with the proper planning, preparation, and resources to ensure that their citizens will be evacuated quickly and safely should a natural disaster or terrorist attack occur. Our citizens deserve no less.

http://thomas.loc.gov/