The Next Disaster: Are We Ready Are We Really
Prepared After the attacks on September 11 and the
hurricanes that slammed the Gulf Coast last year, you’d expect our major cities
to be ready with disaster plans that will save lives and property. There’s no
doubt we’ll be hit again--maybe even harder— because the list of possible
calamities(灾难) is long: from a bird flu pandemic to a massive California
earthquake, to more monster storms, to another terrorist attack.
But are we really prepared to protect people, as well as their homes and
businesses Every major urban area has received federal funding, much of it from
the Department of Homeland Security (DHS), in order to make their cities more
secure. But there are no set criteria for measuring preparedness (the feds are
working on that), and the quality of disaster plans varies widely throughout the
country. So we decided to do an independent assessment of 10
high-risk urban areas, focusing on key security indicators. We analyzed public
data, consulted with federal and local emergency workers, and contacted the
mayors’ offices to gauge (测量) the readiness of these cities to meet both natural
and man-made disasters. Our criteria fell under three main
categories: Emergency Readiness, Crisis Communications, and Medical
Response. Emergency Readiness Are there at least 1,000
first responders (such as police, fire and EMTs) per 100,000 residents They’re
our first line of protection in almost any disaster situation—professionals who
are trained to handle everything from rescuing victims to providing first aid,
to enforcing quarantines(封锁), to directing traffic for
evacuations(疏散). Are there federal search-and-rescue teams based
within 50 miles Large cities often have specialized teams to deal with such
things as high-rise-building rescues or hazardous chemical spills. But these
squads are sometimes small, ill-equipped, or nm on a shoestring. This is not
true of federal urban search-and-rescue task forces that the DHS supports across
the country. Each task force is made of 62 members and 4 canines, as well as a
"comprehensive cache" of equipment. DHS task forces are not automatically
assigned; a city needs to apply and present its case. Has the
city or state earned "green status" from the Centers for Disease Control and
Prevention Suppose that in the midst of a flu pandemic or bio terror attack,
your city ran low on critical medicines. The CDC stands ready to help by
distributing drugs and medical equipment from its Strategic National Stockpile.
But the agency wants to know that a city or state is able to quickly mobilize
hundreds of health workers and volunteers trained to handle the logistics, and
has space set aside for storage and refrigeration. You’re best off if your city
has earned the CDC’s "green status" —even if the state itself has not--because
it means local health teams can handle the supplies on their own.
Does the city website explain clearly what to do in case of evacuation
Who can forget the images of stranded New Orleans residents, or the 5-mph crawl
out of Houston It turned out that New Orleans’s evacuation plans were both
inadequate and poorly communicated. One way cities can avoid a similar nightmare
is to put clear and easy-to-find evacuation information on their websites. Some
cities, such as Boston and Washington, post the preferred street routes. Others,
like Las Vegas, won’t disclose details due to security fears, but their websites
may provide ways to quickly get evacuation details when you need them (such as
numbers to call or alert services you can sign up for). Among the more important
things to address are people without vehicles of their own (a huge failing in
New Orleans) and instructions for pet owners. Does the website
include details for residents with special needs In July 1995, a vicious heat
wave killed nearly 500 people in Chicago; a disproportionate number of them were
older residents who lived alone. In any crisis, the elderly and disabled can be
uniquely vulnerable. That’s why cities such as Houston are creating registries
of residents who would need special help. Such lists would indicate, for
instance, that a certain person in a certain apartment building is
wheel-chair-bound. Other cities are instructing people with disabilities to call
911 for assistance--though this relies on phone systems that could be overloaded
or go dead. If a city’s disaster planning shows no awareness of special-needs
people, it isn’t complete. Crisis Communications Can
first responders—police, fire and medical--talk to one another On September 11,
firefighters died inside the World Trade Center because they could not make
contact with police helicopters trying to radio warnings. Incompatible
communications is a country-wide problem, and converting or replacing
decades-old radio systems can be a long, expensive process. Cities have gotten a
big boost if they’ve taken part in RapidCom, a DHS program providing technical
assistance and training that speeds up the transition. Has the
city adopted E911 Many cities have upgraded their 911 call centers in recent
years, but they’re even better prepared if they’ve incorporated "E911" (or
"enhanced 911"). This technology enables emergency operators to identify the
precise location of cell-phone callers through GPS systems, If you wind up
stranded in floodwaters, E911 could save your life. Does the
city provide 24-honr emergency alerts What if an evacuation order goes out, but
it’s 3 a.m. and you’re sound asleep Not a problem if your city has a way of
alerting you at any time of day. Some rely on street sirens (警报器) to do the
trick. Others have used their websites to invite residents to sign up for e-mail
notifications or automated phone calls in an emergency. Medical
Response Are there at least 500 hospital beds for every
100,000 residents Getting to victims quickly is a critical first step. But
you’d better have a place to take them for treatment. A reasonable standard,
according to preparedness experts, is 500 hospital beds for every 100,000
people--a ratio that would likely mean a city could find enough spare beds in an
emergency. Of course, beds alone won’t help a massive number of burn victims or
people suffering from chemical exposure unless the hospital is prepared to treat
them. But all the cities in our survey have specialty units in their hospitals
that can handle such Are local teams trained to respond quickly
and work together If an urban area was targeted by weapons of mass destruction,
city health officials couldn’t just wait for federal help to arrive. First
responders and hospitals would need to react right away. They could also need
medical volunteers--say, to help vaccinate people or distribute medicines and
supplies. How to ensure that all these professionals and volunteers work
together as seamlessly as possible If a city is part of DHS’s Metropolitan
Medical Response System, it has obtained federal assistance in developing plans,
and has received critical training and equipment. Are there labs
nearby that specialize in biological and chemical threats The CDC is on the
cutting edge with its, Laboratory Response Network--integrated labs nationwide
that have the equipment and expertise to quickly identify pathogens and toxic
chemicals. An LRN lab in Florida was the first to detect anthrax (炭疽热) in
terrorist mailings in 2001. Laboratories can be members only if they have highly
trained staff and exceptional facilities, as well as a track record of testing
accuracy. A handful of LRN labs qualify as "Level 1", meaning they can test for
chemical poisons such as mustard and nerve agents. Emergency operators can identify the precise location of cell-phone callers through GPS systems with the use of ______.