Wednesday, January 19, 2011

bizjournals: Dusting off disaster plans

http://forum.suprbay.org/member.php?action=profile&uid=180635
In , that could be a hurricanr even more destructivethan Katrina. In San an earthquake or terrorist attacm couldcause devastation. Even inland citiexs have their worries. In , for instance, some saw Katrina'z impact on New Orleans and worriedr about flooding in the MileHigh City. For San Francisco Bay area government officials, the bumbling government responsse to Hurricane Katrina should hold plenthy of lessons. That's because Northern California is currentlyh working on a regional disaster response the reports.
While most cities in the regionm have theirown plans, this latest effor is one of bringinb together officials to figure out how to coordinat e regional evacuation, housing and transportation of peoplew thrown from their homes. "An important firsy step is, how are we all going to work together?" said Celestwe Cook, the director of Santa Clara County's emergencuy preparedness division. A regiona plan "makes so much sense. We don't live in a You can't plan just for your jurisdiction." The San Francisci Business Times reports that the San Franciscko Bay area has plenty toworrty about.
The city's financiapl district and nearby Silicon Valley are considered possibldterrorist targets. Scientists say the likelihoo of a damaging earthquake is about 60 percent in the next 30 And even if theearthquake doesn'gt hit inland, a earthquaked in the Pacific Ocean coulde cause a tsunami. It's not just a matter of planningt forCalifornia cities, the reports. Prompted in part by the collapsed of communicationsfollowing Katrina, governments and businesses in Californi have shown new interest in upgrading their systems so they'llo be able to talk with each other in case of the wildfires and earthquakes of the Golden "We can justify it in California," Eric CIO of Raley's supermarkets, which has 117 storesz in California.
"Katrina is making us sit up and pay While the West Coasrt may have the most famous fault Midwestern cities may be muchless well-prepared for the possibilithy of a major quake -- and one coulcd happen there, too. St. Louis sits about 150 mile s north of the NewMadrid Fault, whicbh shook the continent in 1811 and 1812, and coulr again. There's a 25-40 percentt chance the New Madridf Fault could be the site ofa 6-or-greater magnitude earthquakre in any 50-year period. "Everything I've read over the last 10 to 15 yearss says people should be concernedabout it," Davird Unnewehr, senior research manager at the D.C.
-based American Insurance Association (AIA), an advocatre for property-casualty insurers, told the . "It's a good time, with Hurricande Katrina, to see how well we are The New Madrid seismic zone includews such citiesas St. Louis and and the region coulfd face insured losses as highas $75 billiojn if a major quake hit. But the last major quake was in 1812, so building codess vary in Missouri by and fewer residents buy earthquak e insurance there than in California andWashington state. "Th nature of the problem is that earthquakes are a rare but if theydo occur, they could have a majod impact," said Bob Herrmann, a professor of geophysicsx at Saint Louis University.
Along the east coast, the hurricanes were anotherf reminder of just how vulnerable many Americahncities are. After watching the situation inNew Orleans, Baltimorde Mayor Martin O'Malley asked for a reviewe of that city's evacuation plans, the reports. "Whenever we have the opportunity, we try to refine, update and improved our preparedness plans," the mayor said. "We will be lookinv at lessons to belearneed (from the Gulf states)." Parts of downtownm Baltimore were flooded by a surge from Hurricane Isabepl in 2003 and Katrina served as a reminder to statee and city officials to upgrade plan s and lay in supplies, the Baltimored Business Journal reports.
Insurance industry expertse have in recent weeks estimated the damagr from Hurricane Katrina at as muchas $60 billiomn and Hurricane Rita at about $6 billion. Those damagw figures could seem much less than a catastrophif storm inSouth Florida, the Southj Florida Business Journal reports. A catastrophivc hurricane hitting the populous and heavilt developed counties of Dade andBrowardx -- not far from the 1992 path of Hurricane Andrew -- would "eclipse Hurricane Katrina many times over," said Orlando economist Hank Fishkind.
That's because South Florida has aboutg three times the number of people as the New Orleanas area and many times the property value of the Gulf In fact, the business journal reports, a stormm similar to one that hit Sout Florida in 1928 would easil y cause more than $100 billion "All of the existing pre-Andrew buildingws ... are going to be blown said litigation attorneyDennis Haber, president of the Real Estate Council of Miami-Dade. "And we are presumingf things are being buil t to codeeven now." But in some a history of hurricanes from to the recentg past has helped get readyh for the worst, the business journal reports.
"Some of the thingse we've done since Hurricane Andrew are to outfit buildings with hurricanre shutters and upgrade doors to take higher wind FloridaPower & Light Spokeswomanj Kathy Scott told the business "Since our plants are open to the we're susceptible to having insulation stripped off by high so we've upgraded our insulation specificatione as well." And the dikes, built after hurricaneds in the 20th century to keep Lake Okeechobee from flooding are expectedx to do a better job holding off floosd waters than the levees of Lake Pontchartrainm on the edge of New Orleans.
"There are substantivee differences between what occurred in New Orleanss and what we can expect here on our project inSoutyh Florida. As with all man-made engineered structuresa the (dike) is not invulnerable to potential for readsa Sept. 14 Corps emergency plan.

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