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Emergency planners take regional tack
Emergency planners take regional tack
By Emily Shartin, Globe Staff
http://www.boston.com/news/local/articles/2006/05/21/emergency_planners_take_regional_tack/
http://www.boston.com/news/local/articles/2006/05/21/emergency_planners_take_regional_tack/
A major hurricane hits the state. Avian flu sweeps through the population. Terrorists stage a massive attack.
These are the types of scenarios that officials in Boston's western suburbs are preparing for, hoping to avoid the chaos that resulted after Hurricane Katrina demolished New Orleans last year.
While individual communities have been developing their own emergency plans for decades, some new regional efforts are focusing on potential problems that until Katrina might have flown under the radar, such as an emergency whose impact is so widespread that government employees might not be able to report to work.
''You're thinking a little bit more down the road," said Watertown Police Chief Edward Deveau, who chairs the Northeast Homeland Security Regional Advisory Council. His group, which covers 17 communities in the Globe West circulation area, is one of five regional homeland security councils across the state that have been formed to improve planning across community boundaries. The groups include representatives from fields such as law enforcement, health, and transportation.
Officials say the regional councils are considering scenarios other than terrorism, including natural disasters and public health crises.
''Our approach has to be 'all-hazard,' " said Plainville Police Chief Edward Merrick, who is on the council that covers Southeastern Massachusetts and also includes 11 communities in the Globe West circulation area.
Communities all have plans to respond to emergencies that outline procedures for evacuating people, sheltering them, and meeting other immediate needs, said Peter Judge, a spokesman for the Massachusetts Emergency Management Agency. The homeland security councils focus on regional planning and can buy and share equipment.
Judge said the councils are a big help in state emergency planning. ''It really enhances what we're doing," he said.
Many officials say Hurricane Katrina has offered some guidance in the newest emergency planning efforts. One key insight: Communities will need to cooperate in major emergencies.
''We always learn from other disasters," Deveau said. ''No community . . . is going to be able to respond by itself."
One of the questions that officials are examining is how local government can be maintained if employees are unable to work for an extended period of time. Newton, for instance, has been planning on how to keep its government operating in the event of an avian flu pandemic.
''The idea is how to prepare the city to perform the vital tasks if 40 percent of our workforce is unable to come to work," said Jeremy Solomon, the city's director of policy and communications. That has included looking at ways to deliver lessons to students electronically or over the telephone if the public schools close, he said.
Some communities also have been looking at ways to make sure that families of emergency workers are safe during an emergency so the workers are better able to concentrate on their jobs. Many New Orleans public safety personnel had to respond to Katrina despite agonizing worries about their families.
''We're going to be helping other people . . . and there's nobody there to help our loved ones," said Hudson Fire Chief Fred Dusseault.
Marc Draisen, executive director of the Metropolitan Area Planning Council, a Greater Boston planning agency that is helping with some of the emergency preparedness efforts, said Hurricane Katrina reminded people that disasters can be natural or man-made.
''People now realize that there are two different kinds of danger," he said.
Either way, he said, basic plans for helping people affected will likely be similar.
The Northeast council has produced templates, among other things, to help communities plan for maintaining government operations and helping the families of emergency workers, which could involve making sure that elderly parents or young children are looked after, or at least improving communication with them.
''Very often the greatest difficulty is you don't know what the situation with your loved one is," Draisen said.
Although the federal government was criticized for its response following Katrina, Merrick, of Plainville, said it is often the responsibility of local officials to take care of things such as evacuating residents.
''If a similar thing was to happen here, that would be my problem," he said, referring to evacuation strategies in New Orleans that proved to be ineffective.
But Merrick also noted that cooperation is important because communities are likely to have to share personnel and other resources during an emergency.
© Copyright 2006 Globe Newspaper Company.
These are the types of scenarios that officials in Boston's western suburbs are preparing for, hoping to avoid the chaos that resulted after Hurricane Katrina demolished New Orleans last year.
While individual communities have been developing their own emergency plans for decades, some new regional efforts are focusing on potential problems that until Katrina might have flown under the radar, such as an emergency whose impact is so widespread that government employees might not be able to report to work.
''You're thinking a little bit more down the road," said Watertown Police Chief Edward Deveau, who chairs the Northeast Homeland Security Regional Advisory Council. His group, which covers 17 communities in the Globe West circulation area, is one of five regional homeland security councils across the state that have been formed to improve planning across community boundaries. The groups include representatives from fields such as law enforcement, health, and transportation.
Officials say the regional councils are considering scenarios other than terrorism, including natural disasters and public health crises.
''Our approach has to be 'all-hazard,' " said Plainville Police Chief Edward Merrick, who is on the council that covers Southeastern Massachusetts and also includes 11 communities in the Globe West circulation area.
Communities all have plans to respond to emergencies that outline procedures for evacuating people, sheltering them, and meeting other immediate needs, said Peter Judge, a spokesman for the Massachusetts Emergency Management Agency. The homeland security councils focus on regional planning and can buy and share equipment.
Judge said the councils are a big help in state emergency planning. ''It really enhances what we're doing," he said.
Many officials say Hurricane Katrina has offered some guidance in the newest emergency planning efforts. One key insight: Communities will need to cooperate in major emergencies.
''We always learn from other disasters," Deveau said. ''No community . . . is going to be able to respond by itself."
One of the questions that officials are examining is how local government can be maintained if employees are unable to work for an extended period of time. Newton, for instance, has been planning on how to keep its government operating in the event of an avian flu pandemic.
''The idea is how to prepare the city to perform the vital tasks if 40 percent of our workforce is unable to come to work," said Jeremy Solomon, the city's director of policy and communications. That has included looking at ways to deliver lessons to students electronically or over the telephone if the public schools close, he said.
Some communities also have been looking at ways to make sure that families of emergency workers are safe during an emergency so the workers are better able to concentrate on their jobs. Many New Orleans public safety personnel had to respond to Katrina despite agonizing worries about their families.
''We're going to be helping other people . . . and there's nobody there to help our loved ones," said Hudson Fire Chief Fred Dusseault.
Marc Draisen, executive director of the Metropolitan Area Planning Council, a Greater Boston planning agency that is helping with some of the emergency preparedness efforts, said Hurricane Katrina reminded people that disasters can be natural or man-made.
''People now realize that there are two different kinds of danger," he said.
Either way, he said, basic plans for helping people affected will likely be similar.
The Northeast council has produced templates, among other things, to help communities plan for maintaining government operations and helping the families of emergency workers, which could involve making sure that elderly parents or young children are looked after, or at least improving communication with them.
''Very often the greatest difficulty is you don't know what the situation with your loved one is," Draisen said.
Although the federal government was criticized for its response following Katrina, Merrick, of Plainville, said it is often the responsibility of local officials to take care of things such as evacuating residents.
''If a similar thing was to happen here, that would be my problem," he said, referring to evacuation strategies in New Orleans that proved to be ineffective.
But Merrick also noted that cooperation is important because communities are likely to have to share personnel and other resources during an emergency.
© Copyright 2006 Globe Newspaper Company.