The Department of Homeland Security has announced that it has kicked off regional hurricane preparedness exercises designed to assess modifications made in the last year and to identify areas that need additional coordination.
The table-top exercises — typically, informal walkthroughs to test response plans — will focus on key functions including evacuations, sheltering, implementation of the national response plan, and activation of the national incident management system, according to DHS.
The grants and training office of the preparedness directorate — which replaced the emergency and response directorate — developed the exercises with FEMA to engage officials from states and territories in hurricane zones, and will include partners at all levels of government including non-governmental organizations and private industry.
The directorate includes a chief medical officer, assistant secretaries for grants and training, infrastructure protection, cyber and telecommunications, the fire administration, and the national capital region director.
A recent executive order added an office of faith-based and community initiatives within the preparedness directorate, at least in part to coordinate disaster preparedness and response; the order explicitly stated other reasoning for adding that office to the directorate though.
The first exercises took place in Philadelphia from May 3 — 4, involving Pennsylvania, Virginia, Maryland, Delaware, and the District of Columbia, and May 8 – 9 in San Juan, Puerto Rico, involving Puerto Rico and the U.S. Virgin Islands.
Additional exercises are scheduled for:
May 17 – 18 in New Orleans, involving Louisiana and Arkansas.
May 31 – June 1 in Atlanta, involving Alabama, Florida, Georgia, Kentucky, Mississippi, Tennessee, North Carolina, and South Carolina.
June 20 – 21 — location not given – involving New York, New Jersey, Connecticut, Maine, Massachusetts, New Hampshire, Rhode Island, and Vermont.
