IN A DISASTER, PEOPLE MAY GET BY ON OWN FOR TWO TO THREE DAYS, SAYS OFFICIAL

When a major disaster or catastrophe occurs in Missouri, people must be prepared to "be on their own" for at least two to three days before state and federal assistance arrives, says the Missouri State Emergency Management Agency director.

"This is not a new policy for emergency response; it is one the state has had for many years," said the director, Richard Ross.

"Missouri's policy is not unique in this respect," he said. "Most other states have told their political subdivisions, counties and municipalities to base their emergency response and operations plans on the assumption that it will be a matter of days before they can expect state or federal assistance to arrive in the event of a major disaster."

Ross made his comments in an interview in which he discussed the controversy surrounding state and federal disaster relief response to South Dade County, Fla., after it was devastated by Hurricane Andrew.

Ross said the delayed-response, local self-help and preparation concept was first developed by California and Japan when emergency services people realized it would take several days before massive amounts of state and federal help could get into local communities after a major earthquake.

The agency operates under the Missouri Department of Public Safety through the Office of the Adjutant General. It's mission is to protect the state and its population from disasters. It prepares for the task by planning to make the best use of available resources while at the same time working with county and municipal emergency services coordinators to assist them in the preparing local emergency response plans.

After watching the federal response with emergency assistance to south Florida, Ross said it was obvious the enormity of the disaster overwhelmed local, state, and federal officials for the first day or two.

"We've never had a disaster of these dimensions since the 1906 San Francisco earthquake," he said. "That earthquake had a lot of the same aspects as Hurricane Andrew, but they were spread out over a period of days. In south Florida everything occurred within a matter of a few hours. It was as if nuclear bombs had been detonated in the air above Homestead, Fla."

Ross said it was also obvious that for the first several days after Andrew struck no one,except the military realized the extent of the disaster, even though graphic scenes of destruction were being shown each night on television newscasts. In particular he recalled the Dade County coordinator of emergency services pleading for help on network television.

"I have a lot of respect for the governor (Lawton Chiles). He has handled the disaster with all the compassion and concern you could ask for, but, on the other hand, my question is, Why did he wait until Thursday to finally request federal assistance?" Ross said.

Ross said only the governor of each state can make a request for federal disaster assistance. It cannot come from county or municipal officials. He said local and county officials in Missouri can petition the governor for either state assistance or state and federal assistance following a disaster. But he said until help arrives, local counties and communities must be prepared and have the logistics and resources to care for people for at least two to three days.

Ross agreed Hurricane Andrew revealed serious problems within the bureaucracy of the Federal Emergency Management Agency. The agency has been criticized for its delay in responding to the impact of Andrew.

"But you have to remember that FEMA, like SEMA, is only a coordinating agency. Neither one has one shovel, one axe, one backhoe, road grader, bulldozer, electrical generator, or portable kitchen or hospital. All of these emergency relief supplies and resources must come from other civilian or military organizations. All we do is coordinate disaster operations with these agencies. We also have the same problem FEMA does: we are grossly underfunded and understaffed."

Ross said there are only 2,800 employees in FEMA, while SEMA has been trimmed from 50 to 40 employees because of state budget cutbacks. "And most of FEMA's people are bureaucrats who do mostly planning. Very few of them have actual on-site experience in disaster relief operations," he said.

Despite cutbacks in funding, Ross said Missouri is in much better shape to handle a major disaster than it was five to 10 years ago.

"Everyday we become a lot better prepared than we were the day before, but we still have a long ways to go," he said. "We are most blessed that we have a Missouri National Guard with several combat engineer battalions and heavy construction equipment stationed throughout the state, especially in the New Madrid Fault Zone of Southeast Missouri. We are also improving our lines of communications from the local level to the state level, and by mid-1994 we'll have state-of-the-art equipment."

Ross said major businesses and industry in Missouri are also realizing the importance of emergency preparedness. "In the past few years they have gotten very serious about emergency preparedness in general to protect their own resources, their people, as well as the community," he said.

But Ross said in the final analysis survival and recovery from a major disaster in Missouri must start with each person.

"Every individual citizen has the responsibility for the safety of their family, loved ones, and others in the community. For example, take a look at the people of south Louisiana, where there is a close-knit, extended family structure. Self-help and caring for others is buried deep in their roots. I heard one south Louisiana resident say on television this week: `If no one had come down we'd still get by. We've done it before and we'll do it again.' Individual citizens can best help themselves by being prepared to respond for a disaster until outside help does arrive."

Ross said state, county and locally-elected officials have an enormous responsibility "to make sure we are prepared as well as we can be and to make sure we have our acts together. Each time a disaster occurs, such as Hurricane Andrew, it reminds us all of the burden and responsibilities and we all have to make sure we are prepared," Ross said.