A Disaster Waiting To Happen

• NCJ Number: 211945
• Date Published: 2004
• Length: 3 pages
• Grant Number(s): 96-MU-MU-K011
• Agencies: NIJ-Sponsored
• Publication Type: Program/Project Description

Annotation

This article describes the planning and implementation of a coordinated emergency response to six scenarios of a mock disaster staged in Moundsville, WV, in 2003.

Abstract

The training event was sponsored by the National Corrections and Law Enforcement Training and Technology Center (NCLETTC) located in Moundsville, WV. NCLETTC is a year-round training and technology center for corrections, law enforcement, and public safety first-responder organizations. The September 2003 event was the second mock disaster organized by the center. Months of planning resulted in six separate, but interrelated disaster scenarios based on the training objectives of the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA). Mock scenarios included a domestic terrorist drug laboratory, a suspicious package, poisoned picnickers, the collision of a chemical-carrying truck with a school bus, and a boating accident that involved alcohol abuse. The agencies responding to these scenarios included emergency medical services, fire departments, law enforcement and corrections agencies, 911 centers, hospitals, medical examiners' offices, the FBI, the U.S. Armed Forces, the American Red Cross, the Salvation Army, utility companies, and local industries. In addition to developing the scenarios, planners also organized workshops and vendor demonstrations to be held during the 3-day event. The event gave multiple agencies and their personnel the experience of partnering and working together in the application and coordination of their distinctive expertise, training, and equipment.