Durbin Pushes for Additional Federal Resources for Mass Evacuation Planning and Training Exercises

DURBIN PUSHES FOR ADDITIONAL FEDERAL RESOURCES FOR MASS EVACUATION PLANNING AND TRAINING EXERCISES

Monday, August 28, 2006

[CHICAGO, IL] - Cities and states throughout the U.S. will gain the ability to tap into additional federal grants for mass evacuation planning and exercises if language U.S. Senator Dick Durbin (D-IL) successfully included in the Post-Katrina emergency preparedness bill is approved by a House-Senate conference committee and signed into law. Eligible activities could include development of state evacuation plans, evacuation drills and exercises, training and technical assistance.

"Recent studies of Illinois terrorism preparedness - both those done by the federal government and the self-evaluation done by the state - point to serious shortcomings in planning for mass evacuations. While Illinois and most of our cities have evacuation plans, the lack of training drills makes it difficult to address miscommunications that can take place during actual disasters," said Durbin. "The language I included in the bill will help states like Illinois stage additional mock evacuation drills and work out solutions to unforeseen problems before lives are at risk in a real emergency."

Durbin said that while the City of Chicago has devoted substantial resources to preparing and drilling for a possible terrorist attack, additional federal resources will give the city the opportunity to improve its plans and offer more sophisticated training to its emergency responders.

"It seems obvious, but the truth is there is no substitute for working the bugs out of a complex plan before you have to execute it. That's a lesson we learned from Hurricanes Katrina and Rita," said Durbin.

In a report released June 16th by the U.S. Department of Homeland Security (DHS), Illinois ranked 11th in the nation in terrorism preparedness. In that evaluation, which graded 10 categories of emergency preparedness, Illinois received its lowest marks for its evacuation preparedness abilities.

The June 16th DHS analysis of preparedness was based on a complex scorecard for each city and state in the nation, rating their plans for evacuations, medical care, sheltering of victims and several other categories. Illinois' sufficiency in each category was reviewed separately by federal and state disaster officials, and two scorecards were produced. In both scorecards, the state scored worst in mass evacuation capabilities.

The DHS study noted that a successful evacuation, particularly a mass evacuation, encompasses more than physically moving a population from the area at risk to a safe haven. The effectiveness of evacuation planning hinges on the adequacy of the other factors such as communications between emergency personnel, effective emergency warning systems, dependable and accessible emergency public information programs and the availability of health and medical services.

In February of this year, Durbin met with Department of Homeland Security Secretary Michael Chertoff to discuss the need for greater assistance for mass evacuation planning. Last fall, Durbin introduced a bill, the Mass Evacuation Exercise Assistance Act, which would establish a $250 million a year grant program to allow states to develop comprehensive evacuation plans, stage drills and exercises to practice and perfect evacuation procedures and stockpile materials needed to supply evacuation staging areas and evacuation routes. Elements of that bill are now included in the Senate Post-Katrina emergency preparedness bill.

http://durbin.senate.gov/record.cfm?id=262138&&