By Leslie Collins
Northeast News
May 25, 2011

A 7.7 earthquake occurred in the New Madrid Seismic Zone (NMSZ) at 9 a.m. May 16 with the epicenter at Marked Tree, Ark., just south of the Missouri boot heel. Early estimates were 1,123 injuries and 196 fatalities. That was the scenario given to eight states, including Missouri, to practice how they would handle a real earthquake scenario.

“I think it helps to test what you think will work and you discover bugs. You’d rather have as few bugs as possible when it really happens,” said Dennis Gagnon, information officer for Kansas City’s Office of Emergency Management.

Kansas City’s Emergency Operations Center actively participated in the exercise May 19 and played out the scenario on computers, projector screens and telephones. Employees from the city’s water, fire, police, information technology, health, and emergency operations departments gathered in the Emergency Operations Center. Each state interacted with the other, discussing strategies and earthquake updates.

The “situation report” stated countless buildings and highways were damaged and that the electricity was out in all of Missouri’s eastern counties. Kansas City’s American Red Cross was expected to receive approximately 100,000 evacuees.

To further simulate the drill, a C130 airplane landed at a local airport to drop off supplies. Volunteers also served as “medical patients” and mass care sheltering was practiced throughout the metro.

Throughout the day, participants were given additional scenarios called “injects.” One inject stated the public gained access to unpublished phone numbers for Kansas City’s Emergency Operations Center and were overloading the phone lines. Those in the room had to remedy the problem.

May 19 marked the first time a national level exercise was held to simulate a natural disaster. If an earthquake does occur along the NMSZ, Kansas City is expected to be a major evacuation center for those affected in the eastern part of the state.

Above, Kansas City’s Emergency Operations Center was in full swing May 19 as part of a nationwide exercise to simulate an earthquake in the New Madrid Seismic Zone. The exercise was held to prepare states in case of a real emergency. Leslie Collins