State programs to look at emergency preparedness | 05.22.2006 | 09:12:22 | Views: 5054 | ID: May 22 '06: State and local governments around the country are coordinating their emergency preparedness efforts to discuss issues such as avian flu and other national or natural disasters. The Contra Costa Times reported Monday in California that local responder organizations are looking to improve radio communications systems among first responders. "San Ramon plans to install its own emergency advisory radio system, [using] an AM broadcast station that would cover the entire city and one to two miles beyond its borders to keep residents updated in case of a disaster." Other state-wide preparations include pandemic preparedness conferences, surge capacity issues in case of a pandemic, and ways to increase the efficiency of a state's response to an emergency. In Indiana, the Journal Courier reported that "Health officials are inviting everyone to a May 30 town hall meeting designed to get Tippecanoe County ready for a possible flu pandemic. ... State officials estimate that nearly 6,000 Hoosiers could die if a new strain of the virus hit 35 percent of Indiana's population. Nationally, 1.8 million Americans could die, federal officials say." During an Oklahoma bird flu pandemic planning conference, federal officials said more than $1.3 million in federal funding would go to "pandemic planning activities," and that more than 400 leaders from Oklahoma city, first responders, and emergency officials along with state and local government officials would look at issues ranging from management of the spread of the disease, to resources and the history behind previous pandemics. In California, local responder officials told the Costa Times, "the desire would be to have a single network" for the state's communities and counties so that they could communicate efficiently. But officials said the cost would be high and that there are studies underway currently that are looking into the logistics of building such interoperable systems.
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