Saturday, September 17, 2005

Are We Paying Attention In Los Angeles, Part 2

First The Daily News, now The Los Angeles Times weighs in with its analysis of how unprepared we are.
Southland Not Ready for Disaster

A major quake or act of terrorism could displace hundreds of thousands, officials say. Relief agencies concede they would be stretched thin.

By Sharon Bernstein, Times Staff Writer

Despite millions of dollars spent in crisis management drills and dozens of plans to deal with earthquakes and other calamities, Southern California emergency preparedness agencies have done little to plan for mass displacement and destruction across a broad swath of the region on the scale of Hurricane Katrina, according to interviews with state and local authorities.

Because the region is so huge and most damage from earthquakes and fires typically is relatively localized, most of the region's planning is based on the assumption that damage will be confined to one or two areas, several officials said.

Detailed plans to deal with a massive emergency — one that displaces more than 300,000 people — have not been developed since the end of the Cold War...

Full article....

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