The Reno Gazette-Journal - Lawmakers Critical Of Emergency Plans

Lawmakers Critical Of Emergency Plans

ANJEANETTE DAMON
RENO GAZETTE-JOURNAL
Posted: 11/10/2005

State lawmakers who demanded to see Nevada's plan for dealing with a disastrous emergency such as Hurricane Katrina remained critical Wednesday after a briefing by emergency officials.

In September, as the world witnessed the failure of the government's response to Hurricane Katrina, state lawmakers demanded to see Nevada's evacuation plan at the next Interim Finance Committee meeting.

State emergency officials came Wednesday with a PowerPoint presentation and organization chart and explanation of how the state reacts when an emergency is declared.

But no evacuation plan was presented.

Instead, Frank Siracusa, state emergency management administrator, described how the emergency operation center works and explained the state is ready to fill in when local governments can't keep up.

Ultimately, Siracusa said, the responsibility for immediate reaction to a disaster rests with the local governments.

Siracusa had barely started when lawmakers began firing questions.

"What disturbs me, is that in an emergency you need somebody who is in charge. It looks to me like a lot of people in charge," said state Sen. Dina Titus, D-Las Vegas, clicking off a list of decision makers who converge on the operations center in an emergency: the governor, the fire marshal, the public safety director and the adjutant general.

"And all of this is great," said Titus, a candidate for governor, while thumbing through the presentation. "But if there's a flood and you get called in where are you going to get the sandbags? Do you know that kind of stuff?"

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