Disaster planners assess state’s readiness

"MN Agencies"

11/17/2005

Officials looking at bird flu, other scenarios

BY RACHEL E. STASSEN-BERGER
Pioneer Press

Is Minnesota prepared for a large-scale, Hurricane Katrina-type disaster?

The answer from a host of experts involved in disaster planning Wednesday was, essentially, “sort of.”

For years, and particularly since 9/11, the state has been trying to plan for large disasters. But state, local and nonprofit officials told state senators Wednesday that Minnesota still has some serious gaps in planning, resources and staffing to deal with potential problems that might hit the state.

Minnesota is well prepared to evacuate, shelter and help the victims of a disaster that might affect a few hundred or even a few thousand people, Tim Turnbull, of Hennepin County Metro Emergency Management, told the meeting of several Senate committees. But it is far less ready to deal with a disaster that might hit tens or hundreds of thousands of people.

Minnesotans themselves may also be lacking in their own disaster readiness, Turnbull said. He asked the dozens of people in the hearing room if they have flashlights, personal emergency plans and alternative shelter possibilities at the ready. Few piped up and said they were set.

Kris Eide, director of the state’s homeland security and emergency management division, said Minnesota is better prepared than some of the Gulf Coast states to deal with problems that might arise in a disaster. But, she added, particularly after the Katrina experience, “we are unsure of the federal response.” And that, she said, was a worry.

“We can’t trust that we will get what we need in the future,” she said.

Hennepin County Sheriff Patrick McGowan, one of the last speakers during the nearly three-hour meeting, said local officials would have to deal with almost any disaster — without any help from outside — for the first two to three days of the event.

“Forget help coming from anybody. It ain’t going to happen,” he said.

Minnesota officials have taken steps to deal with some of the problems that appeared in post-hurricane Louisiana.

The Corrections Department is forming a committee to determine how to continue to supervise dangerous offenders and registered sex offenders in a catastrophe, according to Eide. The Transportation Department is working on a metropolitan evacuation traffic plan. That plan largely relies on people walking and taking mass transit out of the state’s large cities.

In another legislative hearing Wednesday, lawmakers were told that Minnesota is better prepared than most states for a catastrophic flu pandemic, but the state’s residents need to ready themselves mentally and physically for an outbreak.

“We need to prepare the public for an experience that’s going to be difficult, potentially frightening,” Health Commissioner Dianne Mandernach said at a hearing of the House Health Policy and Finance Committee.

So far, bird flu has spread only to people who had close contact with birds or an infected family member. But in a worst-case scenario, a mutated bird flu virus could sicken more than 1 million Minnesotans, send more than 50,000 to hospitals and kill as many as 20,000, Mandernach said.

Gov. Tim Pawlenty outlined a multi-step plan for pandemic flu earlier this month.

The Associated Press contributed to this report.