Mitigation has always been on the chopping block. The program was almost killed under the Bush Administration. We need the success stories that you have in order to tell the story to congressional funders.
The other issue with mitigation is that it is currently only funded at the federal level. We need to start doing more at the state and local level.
There are interdependencies in our communities today. The example of how dependent the State of Alaska is on our Ports of Tacoma and Seattle was used. If we have the earthquake here in the Puget Sound, Alaska only has seven days of supplies on hand at any point. The majority of food and other goods go through these two ports.
Jim does not do a soft sell on how the previous administration addressed emergency management. Measurement is not a simplistic chart issue. He sees some key concepts as being:
- Does a jurisdiction have a plan?
- Do we have a logistics system?
- Is there an exercise program?
- Do we need NIMS standards?
- Is there a mitigation plan?
- Are operations scalable for emergencies and disasters?
- Is there a training program validated by a training needs assessment?
- Is there a communications plan for communicating with the public?
- Are you connected with the business community?
- Is there a back-up EOC?
- Is there a COOP plan for your government?
- Is there a public education process occurring in your jurisdiction?
