County officials say we're better prepared for disaster now than five years ago

By: JOHN HALL - Staff Writer | Monday, September 11, 2006 11:15 AM PDT ∞

In the five years since the tragedies known forever as 9/11, disaster preparation in Riverside County has improved ---- but still has a long way to go, local authorities say.

"Are we better prepared now than we were before 9/11? In a word, yes. Is there more to do? There is always more to do," said Mary Moreland, director of the county Office of Emergency Services.

"Across the board, I believe we are better off," she said.

Sheriff Bob Doyle agrees and used a scale of 1 to 10, with 10 being best, to compare the county's level of disaster preparedness before 9/11 to now.

"We were down around a 1 or 2 then," Doyle said. "We're maybe a 7 now."

He based that higher grade on a number of things that have improved since Sept. 11, 2001. They include:

- an increase in personnel involved in the field of intelligence gathering,

- the forming of a highly trained 28-person counter-terrorism team,

- greater bomb squad capabilities, and

- the purchase of special equipment to assist first responders in the event of a disaster.

"We now have a vehicle that can contain material and minimize exposure in the event of a biological or chemical situation," Doyle said. The county also purchased three state-of-the-art mobile command posts to use at disaster scenes.

Funding more scarce locally

The changes were paid for with money provided to local and state agencies by the federal government. But those funds have diminished over the years.

Moreland says the county has received the following amounts over the last four years: $5.5 million in 2003, $6 million in 2004, $5 million in 2005, and $3.8 million this year.

"Riverside County gets a rather limited amount of Homeland Security money," Moreland said. "We have to do more with less" compared to places along the coast or in Orange County.

The Orange County cities of Santa Ana and Anaheim received, together, $25 million in federal funds this year, Moreland said.

"The 24 cities in our county (as well as areas outside city limits) together have to stretch out $3.8 million," she said.

Impact could come from outside county

Resources and personnel need to be prepared to react to not only a disaster within the county borders, but also should something happen nearby, say in Los Angeles, Orange County or San Diego, officials say.

"Anything that happens in Los Angeles, for example, we're going to get sucked into as well," Doyle said. "It is a mistake to talk about an L.A. disaster and not talk about Riverside County."

Should something happen in a larger nearby metropolis, those fleeing the disaster would most likely head toward Riverside County, both Doyle and Moreland say.

"We know that disasters have no jurisdiction," Moreland said.

"There could be mass evacuations that would come through our county" in the event of a disaster, she said.

When Hurricane Katrina devastated the Gulf Coast a year ago, Riverside County officials' eyes were opened.

"Katrina really made us see we had to do more," Moreland said. "We realized that our shelter plans here were woefully inadequate, so we set about to organize a mass care evacuation task force."

That has been in place for nearly a year and officials feel better about the plan should there be mass evacuations heading to Riverside County, Moreland said.

While there are legitimate concerns about the possibility of mass evacuees coming to Riverside County, officials know they also must be prepared for attacks within the county.

Moreland says county officials have identified numerous sites that could potentially be terrorist targets. They primarily are water facilities, such as aqueducts, and Lake Skinner or Diamond Valley Lake.

Transportation corridors including interstate freeways and railways also could be considered targets, she said.

"Do I wake up sometimes at night and worry if enough is being done? Sure," Moreland said, adding that one of her greatest concerns is whether authorities can do what must be done quickly enough should disaster strike.

"People expect emergency managers to have thought about this ahead of time," she said.

'Looking to hit a home run'

While agencies in Southern California and around the nation have fortified military bases, nuclear plants and airports, they have done little to protect amusement parks, shopping malls and stadiums, said Neil Livingstone, chief executive officer for GlobalOptions Inc., a risk management consulting firm in Washington, D.C., whose specialty is terrorism. Those public gathering places are tempting targets, he said, because they offer the opportunity to kill huge numbers of people with minimal effort.

"We have huge gaps in our overall security picture," said Livingstone, who has written nine books on terrorism. "In many ways, we have wasted large amounts of federal taxpayer money. We threw all our money at (passenger) screening at airports after 9/11."

At some point, however, terrorists will find another way to attack the United States, Livingstone said.

"They will hit us badly again, sometime soon," he said. "They are looking to hit a home run. They want something on the scale of 9/11 or worse, and they are going to find a way to do that."

The next target may be Southern California.

While Washington is the seat of government and New York is the capital of the nation's commerce, Los Angeles is the nation's entertainment center, Livingstone said.

"And (terrorists) hate Madonna as much as they hate George Bush," he said.

Smaller targets also at risk

At the same time, Livingstone suggests San Diego and Riverside county residents shouldn't get too comfortable thinking terrorists' sights are trained only on Los Angeles. Terrorists could easily choose to launch an attack from Lindbergh Field in San Diego or Ontario International Airport if security at Los Angeles International Airport were deemed too difficult to penetrate, he said.

Perhaps of greatest concern, said Livingstone, are the region's amusement parks and shopping malls. They are far less protected than, say, military bases, and are places where huge numbers of people congregate, he said. And they carry symbolic value. Imagine, for example, striking the "Happiest Place on Earth."

"If you hit Disneyland, you're hitting an American icon," Livingstone said.

Sea World in San Diego, Legoland California in Carlsbad and the San Diego Wild Animal Park in Escondido are vulnerable for similar reasons, he said.

Citing the train bombings in Madrid and London, Miles Kahler, a professor of international relations at UC San Diego, said easy-to-hit places have been the target of choice as of late. It is not hard to see why.

"If you attack civilians in unprotected public places, that doesn't take a great deal of skill," Kahler said.

Communication is key

No matter the size of an attack, one of the keys for emergency personnel is the ability to communicate.

And that is still an issue in Riverside County.

While things have improved in the aftermath of Sept. 11, Doyle says, "We certainly are not where we need to be."

Dispatch centers for all city police departments in Riverside County and the Sheriff's Department now have the capability of communicating with one other ---- something they couldn't do before 9/11.

But, the sheriff said, that's only one channel. "And that's not going to be anywhere near enough in a disaster," he added.

A regional radio system is a long-term goal for the sheriff, one that allows for better communication for law enforcement officers in the field. Part of the delay in getting that in place, other than funding, is politics, Doyle said.

"Politicians have to put their own selfishness aside in order for it to happen," Doyle said.

"This is not just Big Brother county forcing something on these cities," he said. "This should be a priority for everyone."

And if all the government entities were on board, Doyle adds, that would bring the cost down for everyone.

Communication is key

Communicating on radios is not the only way that multiple agencies need to work together in a disaster.

Capt. Julie Hutchinson of the California Department of Forestry says it is critical that all those who respond to a disaster are prepared. And that takes communicating before and during any significant event.

"We are all getting on the same page with that now," Hutchinson said. "We're pretty unique in California with how agencies function well together."

That comes from years of practice, as huge entities such as CDF have worked in "mutual aid" situations with other fire and law enforcement agencies.

State fire officials have long established what are called "incident command centers" at major fires at which multiple agencies have to work together ---- and communicate.

"Sept. 11 proved that makes a huge difference," Hutchinson said.

Because of 9/11 and other disasters such as Hurricane Katrina, there is much more joint training in place, says Moreland of the Office of Emergency Services.

Fire departments, as well as law enforcement and public health agencies, all train together more now, she said. It's all about being ready, Moreland said.

Doyle says a look at cooperation between agencies now, from before Sept. 11, 2001, shows "we are much further along.

"There is a whole new cooperation level we didn't see before," the sheriff said. "There is not as much territorial stuff going on."

Doyle said there is much more sharing of intelligence between local, state and federal officials now. "That came directly out of 9/11," he said.

Preparation by agencies and the individual

The terrorist attacks that day, as well as Hurricane Katrina, served as a wake-up call on many fronts.

Agencies everywhere learned they may not be as prepared as they thought for a disaster.

One such agency is the American Red Cross.

Pamela Anderson, chief executive officer for the Riverside County chapter, said that agency changed on two significant fronts. They learned there was a need to change both the way they raise money and how they prepare for disasters.

"We now communicate better with the public about how the donor's money will be used," Anderson said. "And we now communicate with the public when we've reached our goal for a specific disaster."

The Red Cross also found it is important to better partner with outside organizations ---- such as faith-based groups ---- training those people beforehand when and how they can help.

A greater amount of supplies have been purchased by the Red Cross, along with large warehouses in areas across the country, so volunteers can more quickly get much-needed items to victims, Anderson said.

It isn't just organizations like the Red Cross that need to be better prepared.

"We strongly encourage personal preparedness," Moreland, the emergency services director, said.

"It is still so critical for individuals to be prepared, because we can't be everywhere" if a disaster happens, she said.

Hutchinson, of CDF, agrees. "The key is continual preparedness, we stress that all the time.

"Individuals, both at home and at work, should have kits pre-prepared should something happen," the captain said.

"As a country, we seem to still be too complacent, feeling like that can't happen to us," Hutchinson said. But 9/11 showed that it can.

"We can always be better prepared," she said.

Staff writer Dave Downey contributed to this report. Contact staff writer John Hall at (951) 676-4315, Ext. 2628, or jhall@californian.com. To comment on this article, go to www.californian.com.

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