Exercising our nations’ preparedness for an event similar to the devastating earthquake and subsequent tsunami as occurred in Japan seems a prudent opportune moment to shine a light on what could be the worst case event in the United States.

On the other hand…consider that Japan was the most prepared country in the world for what happened yet look at the terrible toll and ongoing challenges.  This could give United States national-level exercise planners second thoughts about exposing how well prepared we are, or are not.

I have been involved in focused catastrophic planning efforts for the New Madrid at the Federal-level and now am working with an impacted state to help their preparedness efforts.  The good news is, we have made progress in identifying cascading consequences and resource gaps.  On the downside, the consequences and gaps are significant with a great deal of planning still required.  Resources necessary to bridge these gaps will need to pre-identified, designated and trained to be of value in reducing preventable deaths, injuries, social and economic consequences.

I would love to hear from states, agencies and countries interested in being part of the solution to this predictable hazard or themselves needing help to better plan and prepare for catastrophic events.

Regrettably the national-level exercise is being scaled back, perhaps in part due to the tremendous gaps that still exist.  Instead of using the exercise to identify and quantify areas we need to improve, it will barely stress the system, making us look better prepared than we are.  The old saying has never been truer, the only thing harder than preparing for a disaster, is explaining why you didn’t.