Dagny,

Thanks for the link. I often travel to DC on business and I'll keep this info in my bag. I have to laugh though at the comment that they will set the timing of the traffic signals to speed traffic out of the city. As one who has spent countless hours trying to leave the city on New York Avenue at rush hour I would appreciate if they could time those singals every day!

And I'm sure that I-495 would work quite well as an evacuation parking lot. Oy.

Andy

well I spent some time on the AZ Dept of Emer. Mgnmt. and didn't get much. Though I did print out the 50 mile Ingestion Pathway Zone for the Palo Verde nuke plant outside of town. I am juuuust outside it on the other side of town.

Will keep looking and contact my local SAR. Been thinking of joining them anyway.

In Chicago, prep means keeping an eye on the weather and having a really good jacket. Both heath and cold are issues.

Central California. Economically challenged in good times. Many, many folks on various forms of public assistance - which would likely shut down at least for a while in an emergency. We also have every ethnic group and language imaginable and that can be counted on to make communications an incredible mess.

Did I mention that budget crises at the state, county, and city level have rsulted in reduced emergency service personnel with more cuts on the way? Or that our county's medical care is ranked at the bottom of the state in terms of quality?

I am afraid a major emergency would result in demand far exceeding capability here.

My strategy: plan to not be in this town for long if there is a major problem. Hopefully I can get my parents onto my sailboat and cast off for a cruise independent of shore events for an extended time - perhaps until we have evacuated the emergency zone.

... and politics have killed many Community Emergency Response Teams (C.E.R.T.) around the county because there was an unfounded fear that they would "take jobs" of "professionals" (professional only means full-time paid apparently).

Distributed Emergency Management. It's the only way now.