Emergency Communication Tested

The scenario, a hurricane hits south Louisiana and evacuees are transported to Caddo and Bossier Parish, the situation then escalates into a terrorist act. The challenge, communicating with the appropriate agencies in a timely matter. Sandy Davis knows every decision counts. "Like any municipality, has to understand for the first 3 or 4 days we are on our own, and that is what these exercises do, help us resolve these issues without our state and federal partners, explained Sandy Davis, Office of Homeland Security. In order to receive FEMA and Homeland Security Funds, officials required a situation based on a hurricane evacuation and weapons of mass destruction. The Red Cross, local shelters and hospitals also participated. "It`s really realistic because you don`t know what you are receiving, if you really do have a disaster in the community you don`t know what you are receiving," said Al Oar, Overton Brooks VA Medical Center. The exercise not only tested emergency communication techniques but also skills honed since hurricanes Katrina and Rita. A hard lesson to learn, technology is an asset when it works but it can quickly become a liability. "We depend a lot upon electronic technology and any time a bug comes up here you`re in trouble so we go back to the old flip chart and a pencil," commented Davis. The reactions were swift and the outcome rewarding and for Al Oar a piece of mind. "You wouldn`t know, you wouldn`t know what to do, you wouldn`t have any practice, you wouldn`t know how to prepare for it."