How Prepared Are We For A Major Disaster?

Posted: 11/15/2005 9:59:00 PM NewsChannel5.com WTVF

Ever since Hurricane Katrina took the Gulf Coast by surprise three months ago, state emergency planners have been asking that very question.

They've learned about the weaknesses in our plan.

It was a national nightmare. The suffering. The violence. The slow response to help. They were images that raised the haunting question: could it happen here?

"There is not a line that you cross that says you are now ready. What you want to try and do is be as ready as possible with whatever resources you have,” said Kurt Pickering with the TN Emergency Managemeny Agency

In the months following Hurricane Katrina, Tennessee reviewed its own disaster plan, to avoid the mistakes made in Louisiana.

"Plans are never enough. You've got to continually update your plans," said Cecil Whaley with the TN Emergency Managemeny Agency.

Whaley said the hurricane showed disaster planners the need to upgrade communications equipment.

Right now, radios in many counties aren't capable of letting officers talk to departments in other counties. And satellite phones, which don't depend on phone lines or cell towers, are in short supply.

TEMA, which only has two at its Nashville headquarters, just ordered a dozen more. The agency is upgrading its command center, which will give it direct contact with all 95 counties.

But as for a mobile communications center, it’s only a converted trailer rigged with a portable antenna.

TEMA just ordered four new trailers due in February.

"Are we prepared? Yes, as well prepared as anybody in the nation. But can we be better prepared? Absolutely, and we're not going to stop striving to get better prepared no matter what it takes, no matter what the effort might be," said Whaley.

TEMA says its emergency plan worked well in other disasters, like the tornado that hit Nashville in 1999 and the flooding in Giles County in 2003.

But would it stand a major catastrophe like the earthquake predicted along the New Madrid fault?

Scientists say The Big One could measure 7.5, 16 times more powerful than the one that shook California in 1994; eight times stronger than this one that hit Japan in 1995.

"What you'll see is the ground up-heave like a wave. Going down ten feet, rising up twenty feet," said Whaley.

FEMA anticipates as many as 3-thousand deaths and up to 300-thousand evacuees.

"Time may not be on our side. Now is the time to put the effort into seeing just how well-prepared we are," said Mark Norris with Senate Transportation Committee.

Senator Mark Norris chairs the Senate Transportation Committee. He's looked at the state's 500 page disaster plan and worries it leaves open too many questions.

He's planning hearings on the state's preparedness when the legislature reconvenes.

"There are a number of us who are anxious to talk with the Governor and the administration about how we go forward from this to something more practical and therefore effective," said Norris.

More practical, like buying tents or mobile shelters that could accommodate a flood of evacuees. TEMA officials say they're already looking into it.

"We don't feel like our plans are static; we feel like our plans are fluid and we always intend to use whatever's newest, whatever's the best technology and research to improve our plans," said Whaley.

For now, TEMA is focused on training. Statewide exercises are held several times a year - to make sure every department is ready for The Big One.