Public safety officials practice emergency preparedness

Public safety officials in the region gathered Saturday in Cape Girardeau for a comprehensive preparedness exercise.

The event was one of the largest of the year for the county agencies participating. Attending were representatives from Cape Girardeau, Scott, Cole, St. Francois, Stoddard and Washington counties.

The exercises focused on emergency response in case of an earthquake.

Roger Strope, state Department of Public Safety's Interoperability coordinator, said part of the exercise is having other agencies work together in case of an emergency.

"The scenario is for an earthquake. So the assumption is that there's going to be responding agencies that don't normally work here that are trying to work together and set up public safety communications," he said.

Cape Girardeau Fire Department Battalion Chief Brad Dillow said while the event is mostly for the agencies, the public could come by and see what they are training for.

"If people want to come out, I mean this is mainly for the teams to work and stuff, but if there is people that want to come out, I will take them around and show them. I want to show people what their tax dollars go to and what it supports. This is the people's equipment our citizens have purchased through their taxes," he noted.

He said the event would help train personnel on what might happen in the aftermath of an earthquake or tornado and how their communications could be affected and how to work around it. Strope added it helps them work through multiple layers of communication.

"There's a general philosophy in communications: You have a primary communication system that's what you're always working on; you have an alternate to fall back to; a contingent when those two fail; and an emergency. You know, you try to get four layers deep, and this is testing that," Strope said.

Dillow said one of the most beneficial parts to the event is building relationships with other agency personnel.

"Just the interaction with everybody, getting people, you know, where we know each other, so if we do have an event, we have relationships," he said.