EMERGENCY PLANS SOLID FOR THE AREA, COORDINATOR SAYS

JACKSON -- The Cape Girardeau County coordinator for emergency preparedness Thursday told members of the League of Women Voters that the area has a good emergency management plan.

But the emergency official, G. Brian Miller, also encouraged the league to continue to work to inform residents of the need for disaster planning.

Miller joined Mike Coe, acting director of Southeast Missouri State University's Center for Earthquake Studies, at the league's meeting Thursday to discuss disaster planning and preparedness. The meeting was held at the county administrative building in Jackson.

Miller said that since a mild earthquake shook the area last September, and in reaction to a New Mexico scientist's prediction of a would-be major quake along the New Madrid Fault in December, the county has enjoyed unprecedented success in emergency preparedness.

He said residents personally have supported disaster planning efforts for their homes, and area governmental agencies also have cooperated to organize county-wide emergency management plans.

"The earthquake (scare) has really helped get things accomplished in the last year," Miller said. "Things have come together that I didn't imagine possible."

But Miller also said that since the date predicted for a major quake in the area, Dec. 3, passed without incident, residents seem to be less concerned about emergency preparedness. He urged the league to continue to stress the need for emergency preparedness.

"I'm really proud of what we've got," Miller said. "We have a good emergency management plan.

"You may say, `What good's a plan?' There's going to be a lot of things that could happen that we're not going to be able to handle, but there are so many things that we can do now that we would never have been able to get done before."

Miller said the county's emergency preparedness operations started in the 1970s with a $1,200 annual budget. The budget now is about $60,000, with both county and federal funds.

He said the cooperation between the Cape Girardeau, Jackson and Cape Girardeau County in establishing an emergency plan is unique. The plan includes everything from back-up communications systems to emergency medical facilities.

Coe stressed that if residents prepare for any type of disaster, such as an earthquake, they're preparing for other emergencies as well.

He said that, by definition, a disaster is an event beyond the capabilities of the local community to deal with. He said one of the first goals of emergency preparedness officials is to stress the importance of working with all agencies local, state and federal to plan for response and recovery efforts in a disaster.

Coe divided emergency management into four categories: mitigation and prevention; preparedness; response; and recovery.

"Some kinds of disasters could be prevented flooding, for example," he said. "Others, like earthquakes, there's no way to prevent them, but there are a number of ways to mitigate them reduce their impact.

"We know an earthquake is going to happen, but it does not have to cause loss of life or property."

He said preparedness involves public education to inform residents how to prepare and respond to a disaster.

Some of the league members asked what types of things can be done to aid the area's preparedness efforts. Coe was asked if building codes need to be changed to assure that structures are as safe as possible.

But Coe said Cape Girardeau and Jackson already have adopted seismic codes. He said that because the codes only apply to new construction, it might be 50 years before there's a significant effect on the number of homes built to seismic design.

Coe said one change that likely would help encourage greater preparedness efforts from individuals is a proposed law that would tie home disaster preparedness measures to eligibility for earthquake insurance.

"People recognize that if there was a large earthquake, a lot of insurance companies are going to go bankrupt," he said. "They want some federal help, and this would tie insurance into assuring that there's preparedness in the home."