Visitors aided in preparedness plan

Stephen Curran

Wednesday, Sept. 21, 2005 | 9:58 a.m.

Clark County's steady stream of visitors may have uniquely prepared its emergency preparedness officials for a potentially catastrophic disaster here, the county's emergency manager said Tuesday.

The findings, part of a comprehensive preparedness review in light of Hurricane Katrina, showed the county's annual test of its Emergency Operations Plan on New Year's Eve has given local officials the kind of understanding potentially crucial in a disaster scenario, Jim O'Brien, the county's emergency manager, told county commissioners on Tuesday.

The county now updates its emergency plan in a two-year cycle, during which the local government has participated in six separate preparedness drills, he said.

In that time, the county also has responded to disasters such as January's avalanche at Mount Charleston, which killed a 13-year-old Las Vegas boy who was riding ski lift, and floods that forced about 300 residents of rural Overton from their homes, O'Brien said.

He said those responses validate the county's plan, which is set up to provide help to local entities when a state of emergency is declared, before asking to assistance from state and federal governments.

Under that system, the county requests state assistance when all city and county resources have been exhausted, he said.

"We've got to remember that all disasters are local," O'Brien said.

However, while the millions of visitors to the county every year may give emergency officials expertise in dealing with crowds, they also make the region more vulnerable to an array of diseases less likely to show up elsewhere, he said.

"With the number of people who come here, they also bring their health problems," O'Brien said.

In fact, of the region's top five potential hazards, an epidemic ranked higher than flash floods, wildfires or drought, he said.

And the arrival of more than 2,400 Gulf Coast evacuees has heightened the potential for new diseases here, County Manager Thom Reilly said. That risk prompted the county to provide a "one-stop shop" for check-ups and immunizations for those coming to shelters and hoping to find homes here, he said.

The county partnered with more than 15 government and nonprofit agencies to spearhead transportation, education and health care for those arriving, said Reilly, who commended the entities during the commission meeting Tuesday.

"We will truly show that government can partner with the nonprofit sector," he said.

The county in 2003 participated in a string of Defense Department exercises meant to simulate a large-scale disaster, O'Brien said. In a review of that exercise, the Rand Corp., a top public policy analyst, rated the county's results as "Best Practices," he said.

County agencies also took part in a similar large-scale drill, dubbed Rotunda Thunda, that was designed to tax local governments' resources in light of a terrorist explosion leaving an estimated 500 people injured.

Taking part in the drill were police, fire and other emergency responders and totaled more than 1,000 participants from county and city governments.