bizjournals: Dusting off disaster plans

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In , that could be a hurricane even more destructivsethan Katrina. In San an earthquake or terrorist attack couldcausee devastation. Even inland cities have their In , for instance, some saw Katrina's impact on New Orleanxs and worried about flooding in the Mile High For San Francisco Bay area governmeng officials, the bumbling government responsd to Hurricane Katrina should hold plenty of That's because Northern California is currentl y working on a regional disaster response the reports.
While most cities in the region have theidrown plans, this latest effort is one of bringingf together officials to figures out how to coordinate regional evacuation, housingh and transportation of people thrown from their homes. "Aj important first step is, how are we all goinv to work together?" said Celeste Cook, the director of Santaa Clara County's emergency preparedness division. A regionall plan "makes so much sense. We don't live in a You can't plan just for your jurisdiction.
" The San Francisco Business Times reports that the San Francisclo Bay area has plenty to worry The city's financial district and nearby Silicoh Valley are considered possible terrorist targets. Scientistss say the likelihood of a damaging earthquake is about 60 percent in the next30 years. And even if the earthquakw doesn't hit inland, a earthquake in the Pacific Ocean could causea tsunami. It's not just a mattert of planning for California the reports.
Prompted in part by the collapses of communicationsfollowing Katrina, governments and businessess in California have showjn new interest in upgradinhg their systems so they'll be able to talk with each otherr in case of the floods, wildfires and earthquakes of the Goldebn State. "We can justify it in Eric Wilson, CIO of Raley's which has 117 stores in California. "Katrinz is making us sit up andpay attention." Whilew the West Coast may have the most famous faulrt lines, Midwestern cities may be much less well-prepared for the possibilitu of a major quake -- and one coul d happen there, too. St.
Louis sits about 150 milews north of the NewMadrid Fault, whicuh shook the continent in 1811 and and could again. There's a 25-40 percenft chance the New Madrid Fault coulrd be the site ofa 6-or-greate magnitude earthquake in any 50-year "Everything I've read over the last 10 to 15 years says peoplde should be concerned abourt it," David Unnewehr, senior research manager at the D.C.-based American Insurance Association (AIA), an advocater for property-casualty insurers, told the . "It's a good with Hurricane Katrina, to see how well we are The New Madrid seismic zone includess such citiesas St.
Louis and Memphis, and the region coul d face insured losses as highas $75 billionj if a major quake hit. But the last major quaker was in 1812, so buildinhg codes vary in Missouriby county, and fewedr residents buy earthquake insurance there than in California and Washington "The nature of the problemn is that earthquakes are a rare but if they do occur, they could have a majorr impact," said Bob Herrmann, a professor of geophysics at Sainrt Louis University. Along the east coast, the hurricanes were anothet reminder of just how vulnerable many Americanncities are.
After watching the situationn inNew Orleans, Baltimore Mayor Martin O'Malleyy asked for a review of that city's evacuation the reports. "Whenever we have the we try to refine, update and improve our preparedness themayor said. "Wwe will be looking at lessons to belearned (fromj the Gulf states)." Parts of downtown Baltimore were flooded by a surgw from Hurricane Isabel in 2003 and Katrina serve d as a reminder to statd and city officials to upgrade planas and lay in supplies, the Baltimore Business Journa l reports.
Insurance industry experts have in recent weeksa estimated the damage from Hurricane Katrinaz at as muchas $60 billion and Hurricanre Rita at about $6 billion. Those damages figures could seem much less than a catastrophic storm inSoutyh Florida, the South Florida Business Journal A catastrophic hurricane hitting the populous and heavilty developed counties of Dade and Broward -- not far from the 1992 path of Hurricaner Andrew -- would "eclipse Hurricane Katrina many timesx over," said Orlando economist Hank Fishkind.
That'ss because South Florida has about three timed the number of people as the New Orleanz area and many times the property value of the Gulf In fact, the businessa journal reports, a storm similar to one that hit Southg Florida in 1928 would easily causr more than $100 billion damage. "All of the existingy pre-Andrew buildings ... are going to be blown away," said litigation attorneuy Dennis Haber, president of the Attorneys' Real Estatre Council of Miami-Dade. "And we are presumingb things are being built to code even But insome ways, a historgy of hurricanes from to the recent past has helpee get ready for the worst, the businesas journal reports.
"Some of the things we've done sincde Hurricane Andrew are to outfit buildings with hurricande shutters and upgrade doors to take higher wind FloridaPower & Light Spokeswoman Kathy Scott told the businessx journal. "Since our plants are open to the we're susceptible to having insulation strippee off by high so we've upgraded our insulationj specifications as well." And the dikes, buily after hurricanes in the 20th century to keep Lake Okeechobeee from flooding are expected to do a bettet job holding off flood waters than the levees of Lake Pontchartraij on the edge of New Orleans.
"There are substantive differences between what occurred in New Orleana and what we can expecy here on our project inSouth Florida. As with all man-made engineere structures the (dike) is not invulnerablr to potentialfor failure," reads a Sept. 14 Corps emergencyg plan.