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http://www.newsmax.com/archives/articles/2007/8/5/193542.shtml?s=lh
NYC Unprepared for 'Day After' WMD Attack
Monday, Aug. 6, 2007
Despite the real threat of a terror attack using weapons of mass
destruction, the New York City metropolitan area is woefully unprepared for
such a horrendous calamity, a NewsMax investigation finds.
Not only are outlying areas - where city residents would likely seek refuge
in the event of an evacuation - ill prepared for the snarl of traffic that
would result, but some localities do not even have a contingency plan for
dealing with the problems.
Yet there is no doubt that al-Qaida and perhaps other terrorist
organizations are seeking to acquire and detonate a nuclear weapon or
radiation-spewing "dirty bomb" in America's biggest city.
FBI Director Robert S. Mueller told NewsMax in May that al-Qaida's paramount
goal was to detonate a nuclear device that would kill hundreds of thousands
of Americans, and he warned that New York would be the likely target.
NewsMax contacted officials and emergency personnel from three nearby
counties and asked if New York City has been in touch with them to
coordinate a potential evacuation. The answers were shocking.
In upstate Orange County, Town of Deerpark Supervisor Mark House said: "No.
There's been no contact at all. That's a big oops. The only correspondence
we've had with the City of New York is with regards to the Neversink Dam."
In Goshen, Police Chief James Watt said: "There's never been any direct
contact, but it's something that's always been under consideration on our
end." He added: "Our community would be affected, just because we have a
hospital. And on 9/11 our hospital went to emergency alert preparing to be
overrun with casualties."
Nearby in Monroe, Supervisor Sandy Leonard told NewsMax that New York City
hasn't been in touch with her personally.
But she said that no matter what contacts are made and what planning is
done, "You will have a disaster on your hands. You are never going to be
able to evacuate New York City and anybody that thinks that you can is
crazy."
Supervisor Gregory Helsmoortel of Saugerties in Ulster County said the
influx of city people has been mentioned at some local meetings. "But
nothing has been done to prepare specifically for that."
Richard Martinkovic, Commissioner of Public Safety and Director of Emergency
Management/Homeland Security in Sullivan County, said he and others from the
Hudson Valley recently visited the new headquarters of New York City's
Office of Emergency Management. OEM Commissioner Joe Bruno hosted the group.
Martinkovic said: "We addressed with him our concern that if they did have
flooding, dirty bomb or whatever type of incident in the city, how would he
handle an evacuation and of course how would we know how many people are
coming towards us versus going to Pennsylvania, into Connecticut, so forth.
"We're going to have a continuing dialogue with the Commissioner and his
staff. But we do not have any solid evacuation plan in conjunction with the
state and city of New York."
Dennis Michalski, Public Information Officer for the New York State
Emergency Management Office, confirmed that the state and city haven't
directly communicated with municipalities. "I'm not aware that there's been
any discussion down at that level."
He also spoke about shelter versus evacuation. "You're never going to move
eight million people out of the city . in a timely manner.
"Shelter in place [staying put rather than commuting to a central shelter]
is the prime form of protective action. You don't put people in harm's way
and put them into a mass evacuation. It's not practical."
Michalski questioned whether there's actually much concern about the issue.
"We're not hearing it here from local governments. And I'm not hearing it
from county governments."
In Tuxedo, Supervisor's Secretary Shari Brooks said: "All I could say [to
evacuees] is keep on driving, because we don't even have a hotel or motel."
Town of Olive Supervisor's Clerk Susan Horner said: "We're a very small
town. We don't have motels or anything that would hold people. And I could
tell you 62 percent of the people here are weekenders from the city."
The town of Blooming Grove, about 66 miles north of the city, is a potential
evacuation site, as are many nearby communities, because "we're in good
shape, speaking radioactively," said Supervisor Charles Bohan. "Schunnemunk
Mountain sitting to the south is going to block anything coming through.
It's all solid iron."
But Blooming Grove's Director of Emergency Relations Doug Mitchell, a former
FDNY firefighter who has trained with the Federal Emergency Management
Agency (FEMA), had a warning on the subject of evacuation.
"This is a concept that was attempted when President Kennedy was in office.
It did not work at that time. They found out that Mr. Kennedy probably never
visited New York City during rush hour.
"In the event of some type of really unusual event like that, there are so
many different parameters that would come into play. You can't just cut a
clear time period and say, 'In 24 hours you're going to evacuate from maybe
6th Street down to Battery Park.' You're talking about millions and millions
of people."
Mitchell said factors to consider when contemplating an evacuation would
include wind direction, time of day, and what type of hazardous material is
involved. "The big problem is where would people go? What would they do?
"We don't have a lot of resources that we may be able to contribute. I don't
know if farmers would open their fields to military-style tents. We don't
have a common well system. We have individual wells. So all of the
considerations - there's really no answer to them."
Unionville is one of many communities that would want to help following a
WMD attack on New York City, said Mayor Dick Ludwick. But he cautioned:
"Here in the village at this time we really don't have any viable facility
to house people. If they get to our village, at least at the present time,
the best that we could do for them . is to have our highway guy and the
local police at the only critical intersection to help people move on in a
somewhat more expeditious fashion, rather than getting caught in a back
country road bottleneck."
The Town of Lumberland, about 90 miles from the city in Sullivan County,
would also like to help, Supervisor John LiGreci said.
"My town will be happy to try to accommodate. I know for instance my town
would be prepared to take city people here and lodge them overnight. But
they need to be the ones to call and find out how many people we can take
and what are the towns that would be willing to do that who are within a
two-hour drive."
LiGreci added that Lumberland would be able to accommodate only about 2,000
people, and added that "no one has basically come to talk to us about this."
New York City has "unparalleled response infrastructure," said Kelly
McKinney, Deputy Commissioner for Planning and Preparedness in the Office of
Emergency Management.
But he acknowledged that if the city is attacked with a "dirty bomb" spewing
radiation over a significant area, "this particular event is unique in that
the fear will be extraordinary."
NYC Unprepared for 'Day After' WMD Attack
Monday, Aug. 6, 2007
Despite the real threat of a terror attack using weapons of mass
destruction, the New York City metropolitan area is woefully unprepared for
such a horrendous calamity, a NewsMax investigation finds.
Not only are outlying areas - where city residents would likely seek refuge
in the event of an evacuation - ill prepared for the snarl of traffic that
would result, but some localities do not even have a contingency plan for
dealing with the problems.
Yet there is no doubt that al-Qaida and perhaps other terrorist
organizations are seeking to acquire and detonate a nuclear weapon or
radiation-spewing "dirty bomb" in America's biggest city.
FBI Director Robert S. Mueller told NewsMax in May that al-Qaida's paramount
goal was to detonate a nuclear device that would kill hundreds of thousands
of Americans, and he warned that New York would be the likely target.
NewsMax contacted officials and emergency personnel from three nearby
counties and asked if New York City has been in touch with them to
coordinate a potential evacuation. The answers were shocking.
In upstate Orange County, Town of Deerpark Supervisor Mark House said: "No.
There's been no contact at all. That's a big oops. The only correspondence
we've had with the City of New York is with regards to the Neversink Dam."
In Goshen, Police Chief James Watt said: "There's never been any direct
contact, but it's something that's always been under consideration on our
end." He added: "Our community would be affected, just because we have a
hospital. And on 9/11 our hospital went to emergency alert preparing to be
overrun with casualties."
Nearby in Monroe, Supervisor Sandy Leonard told NewsMax that New York City
hasn't been in touch with her personally.
But she said that no matter what contacts are made and what planning is
done, "You will have a disaster on your hands. You are never going to be
able to evacuate New York City and anybody that thinks that you can is
crazy."
Supervisor Gregory Helsmoortel of Saugerties in Ulster County said the
influx of city people has been mentioned at some local meetings. "But
nothing has been done to prepare specifically for that."
Richard Martinkovic, Commissioner of Public Safety and Director of Emergency
Management/Homeland Security in Sullivan County, said he and others from the
Hudson Valley recently visited the new headquarters of New York City's
Office of Emergency Management. OEM Commissioner Joe Bruno hosted the group.
Martinkovic said: "We addressed with him our concern that if they did have
flooding, dirty bomb or whatever type of incident in the city, how would he
handle an evacuation and of course how would we know how many people are
coming towards us versus going to Pennsylvania, into Connecticut, so forth.
"We're going to have a continuing dialogue with the Commissioner and his
staff. But we do not have any solid evacuation plan in conjunction with the
state and city of New York."
Dennis Michalski, Public Information Officer for the New York State
Emergency Management Office, confirmed that the state and city haven't
directly communicated with municipalities. "I'm not aware that there's been
any discussion down at that level."
He also spoke about shelter versus evacuation. "You're never going to move
eight million people out of the city . in a timely manner.
"Shelter in place [staying put rather than commuting to a central shelter]
is the prime form of protective action. You don't put people in harm's way
and put them into a mass evacuation. It's not practical."
Michalski questioned whether there's actually much concern about the issue.
"We're not hearing it here from local governments. And I'm not hearing it
from county governments."
In Tuxedo, Supervisor's Secretary Shari Brooks said: "All I could say [to
evacuees] is keep on driving, because we don't even have a hotel or motel."
Town of Olive Supervisor's Clerk Susan Horner said: "We're a very small
town. We don't have motels or anything that would hold people. And I could
tell you 62 percent of the people here are weekenders from the city."
The town of Blooming Grove, about 66 miles north of the city, is a potential
evacuation site, as are many nearby communities, because "we're in good
shape, speaking radioactively," said Supervisor Charles Bohan. "Schunnemunk
Mountain sitting to the south is going to block anything coming through.
It's all solid iron."
But Blooming Grove's Director of Emergency Relations Doug Mitchell, a former
FDNY firefighter who has trained with the Federal Emergency Management
Agency (FEMA), had a warning on the subject of evacuation.
"This is a concept that was attempted when President Kennedy was in office.
It did not work at that time. They found out that Mr. Kennedy probably never
visited New York City during rush hour.
"In the event of some type of really unusual event like that, there are so
many different parameters that would come into play. You can't just cut a
clear time period and say, 'In 24 hours you're going to evacuate from maybe
6th Street down to Battery Park.' You're talking about millions and millions
of people."
Mitchell said factors to consider when contemplating an evacuation would
include wind direction, time of day, and what type of hazardous material is
involved. "The big problem is where would people go? What would they do?
"We don't have a lot of resources that we may be able to contribute. I don't
know if farmers would open their fields to military-style tents. We don't
have a common well system. We have individual wells. So all of the
considerations - there's really no answer to them."
Unionville is one of many communities that would want to help following a
WMD attack on New York City, said Mayor Dick Ludwick. But he cautioned:
"Here in the village at this time we really don't have any viable facility
to house people. If they get to our village, at least at the present time,
the best that we could do for them . is to have our highway guy and the
local police at the only critical intersection to help people move on in a
somewhat more expeditious fashion, rather than getting caught in a back
country road bottleneck."
The Town of Lumberland, about 90 miles from the city in Sullivan County,
would also like to help, Supervisor John LiGreci said.
"My town will be happy to try to accommodate. I know for instance my town
would be prepared to take city people here and lodge them overnight. But
they need to be the ones to call and find out how many people we can take
and what are the towns that would be willing to do that who are within a
two-hour drive."
LiGreci added that Lumberland would be able to accommodate only about 2,000
people, and added that "no one has basically come to talk to us about this."
New York City has "unparalleled response infrastructure," said Kelly
McKinney, Deputy Commissioner for Planning and Preparedness in the Office of
Emergency Management.
But he acknowledged that if the city is attacked with a "dirty bomb" spewing
radiation over a significant area, "this particular event is unique in that
the fear will be extraordinary."
