Subject: [NEXTEL-1] City disaster drill to have national import

From: [email-masked]
Date: Sat, 12 Jul 2003 19:04:41 -0400

City disaster drill to have national import

07/10/03
By Joe Murchison

A mock disaster drill to be held by the city of Laurel today
(Thursday) will be an event of national import.

The U.S. Federal Emergency Management Agency has chosen
Laurel to be the first jurisdiction in the country to receive
computers, new software to run on them and training on the
software that can help governments and public safety agencies
deal with disasters, according to a FEMA spokeswoman.

The software, called DMIS (Disaster Management Interoperability
Service), "is a breakthrough in communications ... that all first
responders have been waiting for," said city spokesman Jim Collins.

The software was developed by the Marine Corps and was shared
with FEMA last year, the FEMA spokeswoman said.

FEMA chose Laurel as an initial testing ground in part because of a
rapport Mayor Craig Moe has built with state homeland security
director Tom Lockwood and in part because the city has built a
regional emergency command center at city hall on Sandy Spring
Road, the FEMA spokeswoman said.

Collins said the software allows numerous agencies to stay in
instant and constant communication about an emergency situation
by computer so they can know what is happening and jointly carry
out a response.

Such communication is difficult with radio since different
public-safety agencies use different frequencies, he noted.

Collins said the software also includes a database of information
that might be needed in various types of emergencies, such as
facts about various toxic substances. And the software can
quickly access information about weather, such as wind direction,
and other changeable factors that could affect an emergency
response. The communications are encoded so as not to give
away secret information.

The Laurel drill will simulate a train wreck, and will involve local,
state and national officials, Collins said. He said some of the top
federal emergency preparedness officials are likely to be present.

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