COUNTY OFFICE PREPARES FOR ANY DISASTER

JACKSON - Emergency Preparedness is something most of people never think about until a severe thunderstorm or tornado threatens, or a truckload of hazardous materials overturns on a highway or city street, or a train derailment results in a spill of hazardous and toxic chemicals, or an unexpected snowstorm dumps two feet of snow, or the earth trembles and shakes.

In each instance, life and property are threatened unless a prompt and correct response is taken to meet the emergency situation.

Having a pre-planned response and resources to meet an "all-hazards" emergency situation is one of the responsibilities of the Cape Girardeau County Office of Emergency Preparedness.

"The concept of all-hazards emergency planning and preparation is being able to respond to any kind of an emergency, natural or man-made," said Brian Miller, coordinator of the Cape County Office of Emergency Preparedness.

"No matter what the emergency, you must have a plan to meet it, and the resources to carry out the plan. To put it another way, emergency preparedness is simply a county or community's desire to care, protect, support, and defend itself against all hazards."

The concept of civil defense goes back to the early days of World War II, when local offices of civilian defense provided trained volunteers to guard municipal waterworks and other vital functions against sabotage, and serve as block wardens.

During the 40-year Cold War confrontation between the United States and the Soviet Union, the main focus of civil defense was preparing for a possible nuclear attack.

Today, the threat of all-out, global thermo-nuclear war no longer exists. But with the increase in acts of terrorism around the world and the development of tactical battlefield nuclear weapons compact enough to fit in a suitcase, Miller said the U.S. must continue to have a nuclear scenario in its emergency preparedness planning.

"While the likelihood of such a nuclear terrorist incident is very remote, it cannot be totally discounted, and plans must be ready to respond to such a threat, no matter how remote, in order to protect citizens from the secondary effects of a tactical nuclear detonation," Miller said. "We also need to keep in mind that nuclear materials are used everyday for peaceful purposes by industry and medicine. In the event of an accident while these materials are being transported, trained people must be ready to respond to protect citizens."

Emergency preparedness in Cape County has had many names since World War II: Civil Defense, Office of Emergency Planning and Operations, and finally, in July 1982, to Office of Emergency Preparedness.

As coordinator, it is Miller's job to coordinate or facilitate the activities of many emergency services agencies when a disaster or other emergency occurs. "My job is to make sure everyone sings from the same song book, or talks on the same wave length," Miller said.

The "songbook" Miller refers to is the Cape Girardeau County Local Emergency Operations Plan that was developed in the late 1980s and is updated and revised each year. Miller said the plan is written to meet an "all-hazards" threat to the county and its citizens.

An important element of the emergency plan is communications. Today, the Cape County Emergency Operations Center (EOC), located in the basement of the county office building, is one of the best equipped in Southeast Missouri. It is supplemented by a mobile emergency communications command post that has its own emergency generator in the event of a disaster.

The EOC staff can communicate within the county, and with other counties in the region. When severe weather threatens the area, the EOC's communications center is a link with severe weather spotters located throughout the county.

"As of January, our EOC has been designated as a sub-state level EOC by the Missouri Emergency Management Agency. This means in the event of a major disaster, other communications resources will be available to us, and state-level personnel will be available to directly coordinate with the citizens of our area through this EOC," Miller explained.

Since his election as Cape Girardeau County presiding commissioner, Gene Huckstep has been a strong supporter of emergency preparedness. Huckstep's support stems from the February 1979 blizzard that paralyzed the entire county under 24 inches of snow.

For almost one week, Huckstep and the two other county commissioners exercised command and control of all county functions during the emergency relief operations provided by the National Guard, law enforcement, fire, ambulance, Red Cross, and other emergency services agencies. The Cape County EOC provided the means by which the county continued to function.

"I never knew there were so many people in Cape Girardeau County who were on insulin until the storm hit," said Huckstep. "When we started getting those calls for help after the snow ended, we had to figure out a way to get the insulin to people trapped in their homes out in the county. All I can say is, thank God for the National Guard and the Army helicopters."

Huckstep said investing in emergency preparedness is like buying life insurance. "You hope you'll never need it, but if something happens, you've got it," he said.

But emergency preparedness isn't just the job of Miller and other county officials. "Emergency preparedness is everyone's job," said Miller. "In the event of a major disaster, you must know what to do to help yourself and your family. You must be prepared.

"It will most likely take several days before outside help arrives, so the county will be on its own, with its own resources. If individual citizens will take the time now to make their own emergency preparation plan, it will make our job a little easier."

Miller said a family should make a plan to respond to such events as tornadoes, floods, earthquakes and other natural disasters before they happen.

He said the EOC has publications that can assist in developing family emergency operations plan. For more information, persons can call the EOC, 243-7703, from 9 a.m. - 4:30 p.m., Monday through Friday.