City of Philadelphia Emergency Preparedness Review Committee Issues Final Report
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
July 13, 2006
City's Emergency Preparedness Review Committee Issues Final Report
Philadelphia, PA – During a City Hall press conference Mayor John F. Street today accepted the Final Report produced by the Emergency Preparedness Review Committee (EPRC) he charged last September with conducting a comprehensive review of City emergency planning.
"Last Fall after Hurricane Katrina I saw the expressions on the faces of the President, the Governor of Louisiana and the Mayor of New Orleans as they stood amid total devastation," Mayor Street said. "I remembered the tragedies that led to change in New York and Washington after 9/11. I resolved Philadelphia's review of its readiness should not come after such a disaster. We needed to learn what we can do better now to respond to emergencies."
Created by way of Mayoral Executive Order on September 16, 2005, the EPRC was charged with evaluating the City's existing emergency medical, evacuation and business continuity plans, including conducting a thorough analysis of the potential catastrophic threats the City faces.
City Managing Director Pedro A. Ramos and Dr. Harvey Rubin, Director of the Institute for Strategic Threat Analysis & Response (ISTAR) at the University of Pennsylvania served as EPRC co-chairs and national preparedness experts, James Lee Witt Associates (JLWA) were hired as consultants. More than 40 members of the Philadelphia community –private, public and non profit sectors –also participated.
"When Mayor Street called us in and sat us down, he said he wanted a no-holds barred report," stated Dr. Harvey Rubin, Director of the Institute for Strategic Threat Analysis & Response (ISTAR) at the University of Pennsylvania and EPRC co-chair. "He wanted to know where the gaps really were. That showed true leadership. The depth and breadth of this report is testimony to this City's commitment to improving its preparedness."
"Philadelphia should be commended for taking such a comprehensive approach to reviewing emergency plans," stated James Lee Witt of Witt Associates. "Too often cities begin this sort of review during the recovery phase of a major disaster, when it's really too late. This City has handled a multitude of emergencies quite well but realized the importance of planning for the unexpected and the need to identify areas in need of improvement before they are revealed during a disaster."
Perhaps the most comprehensive review of emergency planning in the post-Katrina era, the EPRC report makes more than 200 recommendations organized in eight areas: Enhance Emergency Management Capacity, Enhance Emergency Communications, Integrate Health and Human Services into Emergency Management, Enhance Federal, State, Regional and Local Partnerships, Promote Transparency and Community Engagement in Emergency Management, Ensure Continuity of Government and Continuity of Operations Planning, Protect Critical Infrastructure and Promote Public-Private Partnerships and Develop Comprehensive Evacuation Plans.
Among the recommendations are calls for expanding the staffing and overall stature of Philadelphia's Office of Emergency Management, improvements to the emergency communications systems, creation of evacuation plans and development of a public education campaign.
"Philadelphia is in a better position than many cities" stated Managing Director Ramos. "For example, we have some of the best professionals in the Country for hazardous material situations, bombs and pandemic planning and preparedness. This report has identified the areas where we need to improve and provides the guideposts by which we will now work to improve to ensure we are prepared."
The City has already begun to implement some of the recommendations in the Final Report, including initiation of city-wide training on continuity of government planning and posting on-line of the City's pandemic influenza preparedness plan. A task force of transportation, law enforcement and emergency management officials has been working for several months to develop regional emergency evacuation plans and the City recently installed additional barriers around the Police Administration Building to protect the City's critical emergency communications center.
"One of the most important actions we have already begun and will roll out for Emergency Preparedness Month in September will be a public education campaign called READY Philadelphia," stated Managing Director Ramos. "The public must know more about what it can do for itself and it can reasonably expect from its government. If citizens do not know how to respond to an emergency, the best-crafted report in the world won't protect them."
Implementing these recommendations will cost money, but the City will meet its responsibilities to protect its citizens.
"We will not shirk our responsibility to protect our citizens," stated Mayor Street. "We will work with regional business leaders for support since so much of the critical infrastructure of preparedness is privately owned. Together with these leaders we will work with the Governor and our state legislative delegation, as well as with our Federal representatives to ensure all levels of government seize upon this moment of clear thinking to do what is necessary to make sure Philadelphia and the region is prepared should a disaster happen here."
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For more information visit www.phila.gov
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