From Mark's Desk:
March 20, 2006  

Emergency Un-Preparedness?

Dear Friends,

Last year, when I became Chairman of Senate Transportation and Safety, I asked to meet with TEMA and the Highway Patrol. I wanted to know the plan for action in the event of a natural disaster, such as an earthquake.

Ironically, the next morning, there was a small earthquake in West Tennessee. No significant damage that time. Had there been, however, I didn’t even have a central number to call that day to assure that an appropriate response was under way. Most legislators still don’t.

I undertook the task of trying to understand the state’s plan on my own just before Hurricane Katrina struck and requested the Emergency Management Plan mandated by the General Assembly.

The plan itself is a cumbersome three-ring binder containing over 300 pages. Not exactly the field strategy guide I expected, but more along the lines of a heavy Memphis yellow pages phonebook. The difference is that our emergency plan lacks key contact information and a well-coordinated action plan that ordinary citizens can understand and use.

So I wrote the Governor a nice letter and suggested that we discuss ways to make the emergency plan a little more “user friendly” just in case we ever needed to really use it. Something practical.

No response. Not even a form letter.

Then I met with the good folks at TEMA and wrote another letter. I even suggested to the Deputy Governor that perhaps there should be a meeting with the Governor, Senate and House Transportation Committee officers.

Again, no response.

Exasperated, I referred to the “plan.” I found that TDOT and the Department of Safety shoulder the key responsibilities in the event of a catastrophe.

With the recent problems and turnover at the Department of Safety, are the new replacement leaders aware of their departments’ assigned responsibilities in the event of disaster?

To be fair, the Administration is scrambling to come up with a new plan sometime in April. However, I am concerned that we are exercising too little concern at far too slow a pace.

Avian flu is a case in point. The state’s Influenza Pandemic Response Plan is three years old and primarily for the scenario of flu for which there will be some sort of vaccine. No vaccine exists for Avian flu at this time.

Avian Flu is what the state’s plan refers to as the “worst case scenario.” Measures include declaration of emergency by the governor and activation of … you guessed it -- the Emergency Management Plan they’d use in case of a tornado.

Enter the three-ring binder.

When citing what happens after a declaration of emergency, the plan states that emergency resources will be allocated “as required under the authority of Executive Order #15 and the Tennessee Emergency Management Plan (TEMP).”

The only problem is that Executive Order #15 has nothing to do with emergencies or preparedness or flu; it is an order establishing “the Fast Track Business Initiative” under the Department of Economic and Community development!

Does anybody read this stuff?

During upcoming budget hearings for the Departments of Transportation and Safety, the Transportation and Safety Committee will want to know how this Administration plans to budget for these real needs, and how it plans to meet them.

We can only hope for an appropriate response.