States skip drill to handle real disasters

ST. LOUIS, May 16 (UPI) -- At least two states have withdrawn from disaster drills that began Monday because they are dealing with disastrous flooding, organizing officials said.

The scenario for the Midwest states include an earthquake along the New Madrid fault that will cause power blackouts, cut communications and flatten roads and bridges, the St. Louis Post-Dispatch reported.

Of eight states scheduled to participate in the drill, at least two -- Alabama and Mississippi -- withdrew to deal with the aftermath of recent deadly storms while other weather-buffeted states trimmed their participation, officials said. The states participating in some fashion are Arkansas, Kentucky, Illinois, Indiana, Missouri and Tennessee and Kentucky.

One of the people who spent almost four years helping to plan the multimillion-dollar exercise acknowledged the timing "could not have been worse."

"It's a little disappointing, but the real world is the real world, and this is what these guys are trained and paid to do," said Paul Hogue of the Central United States Earthquake Consortium.

The annual drill is ordered by Congress and directed by the White House and is the first to focus on a national disaster instead of a terrorism-related event, the Post-Dispatch said. The four-day exercise occurs during the bicentennial anniversary of the 1811 New Madrid, Mo., earthquake.