Mock attack tests response

Diana Sahagun

Friday, March 22, 2002 | 9:38 a.m.

Las Vegas Mayor Oscar Goodman says Southern Nevada agencies aren't prepared for a biological attack, but they're getting closer.

"You're never prepared, you're in a state of readiness," he said.

Goodman on Thursday took part in a daylong biological terrorism exercise, during which the deadly tularemia bacteria was theoretically released in a Las Vegas shopping mall.

As part of the scenario more than 4,000 Las Vegas residents believed they had been exposed to the airborne virus. A hundred residents died in the scenario.

Goodman joined more than 40 local, state and federal agencies that participated in the simulated attack, designed to test the valley's preparedness.

Sheriff Jerry Keller said the exercise showed the presence of effective communications between the various law enforcement agencies and government officials.

Keller said he would begin meeting with community groups to educate the public on what to do in the event of an attack. He also noted that Metro Police recently established a reverse 911 system, which will allow dispatchers to contact residents in an emergency.

"We are in a state of readiness, and we are taking steps to prevent terrorist acts from occurring," Clark County Commission Chairman Dario Herrera said. "Once we can prevent those acts, then we'll be in a state of preparedness."

The county's Chief Health Officer Donald Kwalick said the 4,000 ill residents, as defined in the exercise, flooded local clinics, which "bogged down the entire system."

Because the symptoms of the virus take four days to surface, many residents falsely suspected they had contracted the virus, he said.