New Orleans Unveils 2006 Emergency Preparedness Plan

In preparation for the 2006 Atlantic Storm Season, New Orleans, La., Mayor C. Ray Nagin’s Office of Emergency Preparedness has developed a strategic plan for the management and evacuation of the city’s citizens, the mayor’s office announced. The plan includes no shelter of last resort, such as the Superdome or the city’s convention center.

City Communication infrastructure is being upgraded and an emphasis is being placed on interoperability with government agencies and law enforcement across the region.

Mayor Nagin has named May hurricane preparedness month and urges residents to sit down with their families before the June 1 beginning of hurricane season to make their own emergency plan. A completed plan should include when and where family members should meet, where they should evacuate, and what they should bring, including money, food and health-related supplies. The city’s technology office is working with Homeland Security and the Office of Emergency Preparedness on a new Web site to assist citizens with this task.

“There will be no shelter of last resort,” Nagin declared. “In the future, the Convention Center will be a staging point for evacuations, not a shelter, and Amtrak trains will also be used for evacuation purposes.”

A critical component of any Emergency Preparedness Plan is how the evacuation of assisted needs citizens, such as the elderly and infirm, will be managed.

To this end, the city presents a new City Assisted Evacuation Plan (CAEP). The purpose of the CAEP is to help citizens who want to evacuate during an emergency, but lack the capability to self-evacuate. The CAEP is not intended to replace the individual’s personal responsibility in preparing their own evacuation. It is meant to be an evacuation method of last resort and only for those citizens who have no other means or, have physical limitations that prohibit self-evacuation.

More information on the evacuation plan is available on the City of New Orleans Web site at: www.cityofno.com/portal.aspx.

Source: City of New Orleans Mayor’s Office