Coordination centers help counties in times of disaster

Emergency management officials in Southeast Missouri say annual participation in a regional plan encouraged by the state has prepared them well for handling and recovering from major events such as floods, earthquakes, tornadoes and other disasters.

Part of the plan, created by the State Emergency Management Agency, or SEMA, involves setting up a multiagency coordination center, which officials say was tried and proved successful during 2011 flooding and will serve the region well in the event of another disaster.

During the 2011 flood, a Sikeston, Mo.-based coordination center managed the flow of resources into the region. A hydrologist analyzed data on rainfall and its effect on already full waterways. Emergency management officials better knew what was coming, and what they needed to do, said Drew Juden, director of the Sikeston Department of Public Safety, who helped coordinate the center.

State agencies for emergency, transportation, health and natural resources communicated quickly and freely with local officials about what resources were needed where, and when.

The effort worked to respond to the public's needs faster than before, further pushing plans for centers to operate again when needed, and encouraging the state emergency management agency to keep forming regional disaster plans annually across the state.

Mark Winkler, area coordinator for SEMA, oversees county participation in regional disaster plans for Southeast Missouri. Winkler visits county commissions annually in the first part of the year to seek approval for counties to take part in the plan, which promotes the formation and use of a multiagency coordination center.

So far this year Winkler has signed up 10 counties: Bollinger, Butler, Cape Girardeau, Dunklin, Iron, New Madrid, Pemiscot, Ripley, Scott and Stoddard.

Winkler expects the remaining counties in his designated area -- Madison, Mississippi and Wayne -- will sign on, too, as soon as he can review the plan with officials.

'Go-to place'

Juden said the regional disaster plans' inclusion of the centers creates a "go-to place that knows each [county emergency manager] individually and can vet their requests, and fight for their requests at the state level," when an area is faced with a disaster.

"Most of the emergency managers in Southeast Missouri are not full-time positions, and there's almost none of them that have a staff," Juden said. "So when these big disasters happen, they don't have the resources at their fingertips to say 'OK, I want you to go back and I'm going to call you, and tell you everything I need from out here, from bulldozers to sandbags, to you name it.' That's the goal, if you will, of the multiagency coordination center."

Juden said the use of the center model during disaster also has boosted the relationship quality between agencies, therefore strengthening the region's emergency response capabilities.

Winkler said SEMA area coordinators were encouraged to promote the use of regional disaster plans that include area coordination centers. The setup has proved effective in the SEMA region that covers the Springfield, Mo., even before historic flooding in Southeast Missouri.

Plans cover communications, emergency management, mass care, public information and a standard operating guide for setting up a coordination center.

Winkler said the plan is designed to provide an "umbrella" for operating a regional response.

Scott County emergency management director Tom Beardslee said the plan and use of a center helps when counties gets into a disaster situation and the disaster exceeds local officials' resources.

"With this we've got a place that is one single source of requests for assistance to an area, where you don't have individual counties calling and asking for overlapping or similar things," Beardslee said.

A center is normally set up at a location central to the disaster area.

"We aren't trying to take any control away from the locals, we are just trying to form a team that can assist them to realize what resources and personnel we have within the region, and help disperse those within the region, or if we don't have that, to be a link between the locals," Winkler said.

SEMA also coordinates an annual event at which local emergency management and first responder agencies use a mock scenario to test the effectiveness of the disaster plan. Workshops held throughout the year help prepare agencies to respond to the scenario.

Officials will meet March 25 in Sikeston as part of the training for this year's event, according to Winkler. The scenario, scheduled for October, will play out as if the region is battling a mass illness pandemic. The coordination center for the event will be based in Cape Girardeau.

Last year's mock disaster scenario was a terrorist attack on the power grid. For that event, the coordination center was set up at Three Rivers College in Poplar Bluff, Mo.

eragan@semissourian.com

388-3627

Pertinent address:

Sikeston, MO