WASHINGTON, Feb. 6 (UPI) -- Local governments in the United States remain unprepared to respond to a large-scale disaster, homeland security experts said Tuesday.
"The near total collapse, or at least the total inundation, of local resources in the wake of Katrina indicated that local government was so woefully unprepared," said Mayor Stephen R. Reed of Harrisburg, Penn., speaking a forum on homeland security at the National Press Club.
Natural disasters such as Hurricane Katrina and the public outcry over the delayed response from disaster preparedness teams from all levels of government have forced U.S. government agencies to reexamine their plans for responding to future disasters, experts said.
However, they were skeptical about how much of an effect lessons from Katrina have had on local agencies.
"A lot of local governments have taken no lesson from what happened," said Reed. Local agencies in the Gulf States probably learned more, he said.
Local governments in other parts of the country still tended to think the devastation caused by Katrina was an isolated incident, Reed said. "Local governments in many parts of this country are prepared on paper, but not much beyond that," he said.
Reed said local U.S. law enforcement agencies had not been adequately trained to know their duties in responding to man-made or natural disasters. He said that those agencies were often hindered by insular thinking.
Other experts stressed the importance of including utilities companies and local businesses in disaster preparedness plans.
The private sector could "bring a tremendous amount of resources to the table if we can just figure out how to use them," said Michael M. Cline, Virginia's state coordinator for emergency management.
