Safety

U.S. mayors: Cities ill-prepared for emergencies

Emergency Management Alert, August 1, 2006

Wondering how we're faring post-Katrina? Not very well, according to U.S. mayors, whose recent study on emergency preparedness says that 70% of communities wouldn't be able to handle an outbreak of the bird flu, eight of 10 cities can't communicate with each other or area towns, and 72% of cities have not established a plan with local military to buttress EMS efforts.

Released July 26 by the U.S. Conference of Mayors, Homeland Security Monitoring Center, the study, "Five Years Post 9/11, One Year Post Katrina: The State of America's Readiness," is the latest in a series of reports prepared by the organization since September 11, 2001.

Executive Director Tom Cochran said, "The ultimate goal of any survey conducted by the Conference of Mayors is to assemble information that can be used to improve the program or process being examined.... Mayors have been working with the federal government on many key homeland security issues [and with each other] to share best practices, develop innovative response systems, and implement city-to-city mutual aid agreements. But more must be done at every level of government to make sure that our cities, and the nation, are able to respond to the growing challenges of homeland security and emergency response."

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