WASHINGTON  -  U.S. Representative Jo Ann Emerson (MO-08) today met with federal, state and local officials about preparations for a major earthquake in the New Madrid Seismic Zone, which includes Southern Missouri as well as parts of Arkansas, Tennessee, Kentucky. Indiana, Mississippi and Illinois.  The meeting at Southeast Missouri State University drew over 60 attendees.

 

Emerson and U.S. Senator Jim Talent have asked the U.S. Department of Homeland Security to conduct a large-scale exercise to assess the emergency response capabilities and to aid future planning.

 

“We simply must be prepared for this type of disaster along the New Madrid Fault.  Unlike a hurricane, an earthquake will strike without warning.  There will be no chance to evacuate or to stage relief efforts ahead of time, so we have to take the opportunity we have now to be ready in every possible way,” Emerson said.  “A major earthquake here would be deadly and disruptive within the region, but also throughout the country.  Our natural gas infrastructure, essential transportation corridors and telecommunications systems would be affected on a national basis. Add to that the lives and property within the immediate area and we are talking about a situation that demands our readiness.  Federal, state and local agencies must be on the same page.  It is imperative we be ready to react to a catastrophe in Southeast Missouri on a moment’s notice.”

 

“One key lesson of the recent hurricanes is the need to run local, state and federal response teams through preparedness drills – to find out where the gaps are in logistics, security, communications, relief efforts, and agency decision making at all levels,” said U.S. Senator Jim Talent, a member of the Senate Armed Services Committee. “The kind of exercise that Rep. Emerson and I have called for would assist first responders and planners to better understand how to fill those gaps and to work together with even greater effectiveness. A major earthquake along the Mississippi River could, for example, impair much of our transportation infrastructure system. One of the exercises we’ve asked Sec. Chertoff to execute over the next year is how we
would provide all the relief services needed under such conditions.”