IP: Government Is Slow to Offer Safety Plans

[Dave Farber <dave () farber net>]

-----Original Message-----
From: "Richard Jay Solomon"<rsolomon () dsl cis upenn edu>
Sent: 8/6/02 7:03:28 PM
To: "David Farber"<farber () cis upenn edu>
Cc: "Eric Rosenthal"<eric () creative-technology net>, "maureen () goodread com"<maureen () goodread com>, "Clark 
Johnson, Jr."<clark () fcomm net>, "Sean E. Solomon"<seans () goodread com>
Subject: Government Is Slow to Offer Safety Plans



___  Preparedness Guide ___

Dirty bombs, anthrax and smallpox: An informative guide for you and 
your family. Click to launch
the guide.
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A47958-2002Aug5.html

> Government Is Slow to Offer Safety Plans
> Local, National Offices Have Yet to Disclose Advice People Could Use 
> in a Terrorist Attack
>
> By Barton Gellman
> Washington Post Staff Writer
> Tuesday, August 6, 2002; Page A01
>
>
>
>
> NEW YORK -- In a closed meeting recently in Manhattan, Police 
> Commissioner Ray Kelly fielded a question about the city's 
> evacuation plan in case of biological, chemical or radiological 
> attack.
>
> "He took a long sip of his tea, and put it down, and said, 'What 
> evacuation?' " recalled one participant, whose employer forbids him 
> to be quoted by name. "He said, 'This is a city of 8 million people. 
> It can't be done.' "
>
> To someone choosing between shelter and flight when contaminants are 
> in the air, that would be valuable information. National models show 
> that a sudden exodus from nearly any big city would leave people 
> gridlocked and exposed, while safe rooms they could make at home 
> could offer life-saving protection. (See guide, Page A6.)
>
> But President Bush and local elected leaders are not providing this 
> information to the public. For political and bureaucratic reasons, 
> governments at all levels are telling far less to the public than to 
> insiders about how to prepare for and behave in the initial chaos of 
> a mass-casualty event.
>
> Homeland Security Director Tom Ridge often describes another major 
> attack as "a matter of when, not if," and he said recently it could 
> kill "vast numbers of Americans." But he has not yet urged the 
> public to take available steps that could reduce the toll. When 
> asked, the government is dispensing generic guidance with fewer 
> particulars than it puts in pamphlets about hurricanes and winter 
> storms.
>
> The Bush administration, Congress and some municipal authorities are 
> preparing themselves more effectively for an attack. Congress, for 
> example, has evacuation routes and respiratory protection for every 
> member and aide. Kelly, who could not be reached for this article 
> after a faxed letter and telephone calls, keeps emergency water, 
> food and medical supplies for his office.
>
> Mayor Anthony A. Williams (D) and the D.C. government are among the 
> most aggressive in urging the public to make similar preparations. 
> Since Sept. 11, they have printed a brochure in nine languages, as 
> well as in braille, and have mailed a copy to every household in the 
> District.
>
> Even so, the D.C. Family Preparedness Guide relies on euphemisms 
> that obscure its meaning, such as "technological hazards" for 
> chemical and biological weapons. And according to federal 
> scientists, some of its instructions are outdated and others are too 
> vague to be effective.
>
> John Sorensen, director of the Emergency Management Center at the 
> federal government's Oak Ridge National Laboratory in Tennessee, 
> said he "offered to develop brochures for chemical weapons, 
> biological agents and so forth" that would describe in plain 
> language what Americans could do to prepare. He said the Federal 
> Emergency Management Agency and the American Red Cross, which 
> jointly publish the most widely used disaster preparation materials, 
> "told me, 'We're not in the business of terrifying the public.' " 
> Officials at both organizations said they prefer to provide advice 
> broad enough for any disaster, natural or man-made.
>
> Thomas A. Glass, principal investigator in a National Science 
> Foundation study of public behavior during emergencies, said the 
> research found that planners consistently forecast panic that does 
> not take place and misconceive the reasons for unsafe behavior. In 
> 10 calamities over seven years, the public responded rationally, he 
> said, but "will do all kinds of [unsafe] things because they haven't 
> been prepared." The widespread assumption "that if you talk to the 
> public about what can happen they will panic is borne out by 
> nothing." After examining hundreds of government contingency plans, 
> Glass said they commonly treat the public in the manner "of animal 
> husbandry."
> 'They're Blowing It Off'
>
>
> The Bush administration has struggled with public disclosure of 
> risks and precautions. Political appointees said the White House is 
> reluctant to do more in part because it sees its color-coded 
> "homeland security advisory system," introduced in March, as a 
> public relations failure. Until recently, elected officials also 
> calculated that asking the public to make specific preparations at 
> home would undercut the political message that government is doing 
> everything that can be done.
>
> "Most people want to feel their elected and public safety officials 
> are dealing with this," said Mayor Michael Guido of Dearborn, Mich., 
> in comments echoed by Bush administration officials who declined to 
> be named.
>
> Public opinion research is beginning to suggest that vagueness is a 
> political liability. David Bell, who is chairman of the Advertising 
> Council and a friend of Ridge, brought the public discontent to the 
> attention of the former Pennsylvania governor. Ridge had earlier 
> asked the council to promote Bush's new USA Freedom Corps.
>
> According to written findings made available to The Washington Post, 
> the Ad Council assembled focus groups during the week of July 8 in 
> Fairfax County, Cincinnati and Los Angeles. Participants were 
> "hungry for leadership and action: to be told what to do to be more 
> prepared, to be assured that this preparedness can make a 
> difference" and to "take responsibility upon themselves."
>
> "I was waiting for somebody to tell me, 'Okay, we have this 
> [potential] threat,' " complained a focus group member in 
> Cincinnati. " 'If this happens, then you need to do A, B and C.' "
>
> When mayors and city managers gathered in New York on July 26 for 
> the National League of Cities' working group on homeland security, 
> several of them expressed frustration. "A red box, blue box, yellow 
> box is not going to tell us what we need to know," Brenda Barger, 
> mayor of Watertown, S.D., told Ridge's representative across the 
> table. "You know what people are doing? They're blowing it off. We 
> need to know what to do."
>
> Joshua Filler, an aide to Ridge, replied that the mayor should 
> determine that for herself. "The community should decide, 'This is 
> what we're going to do at [risk advisory level] yellow,' " he said.
>
> Susan Neely, Ridge's director of communications, acknowledged that 
> "that doesn't seem to be a satisfactory answer to people."
>
> In a telephone interview, Ridge said, "there has been enough concern 
> expressed by the public" that Washington will have to address it. 
> "People are seeking good information. . . . I certainly anticipate 
> talking about it, because citizens want to know."
>
> So recent is that decision that the National Strategy for Homeland 
> Security, released July 16, mentioned nothing about self-protection 
> for individuals and families.
>
> As long as eight years ago, a federal study concluded that education 
> about chemical attacks and how to survive them would save lives if 
> the lethal agents were released among civilians. Claims that the 
> public would panic at such advice, the study found, were "shown to 
> be false" and appeared to be "excuses for not providing information."
>
> "The stakes are huge," said Rep. Jane Harman (D-Calif). "I'm 
> measuring it in lives. That's a pretty definitive measure."
>
> The Bush administration is considering a television and radio 
> campaign to be produced for free by the Ad Council, the group 
> responsible for such iconic slogans as, "Friends don't let friends 
> drive drunk."
>
> Peggy Conlon, the council's president, said preparedness is "a very 
> difficult communications challenge. One of the things we're very 
> sensitive to, and we'll be testing the heck out of it, is there's a 
> fine balance to strike between empowering people . . . and scaring 
> them."
> Come What May
>
>
> Early concepts for the public service campaign cast it as marketing 
> for the government's existing disaster preparation advice, now 
> scattered across many Web sites and in brochures that are 
> distributed primarily on request.
>
> FEMA and the Red Cross do not know how many people know about or 
> follow their guidelines for self-protection at home. Lara Shane, a 
> spokeswoman for FEMA, said, "We don't have a way to quantitatively 
> measure how a message reaches the public, but we try to reach as 
> many people as possible through our regional offices, Web sites and 
> partnerships."
>
> Local governments, which the federal agencies rely upon for 
> distribution, seldom take the initiative.
>
> New York, a prominent terrorist target, especially since the 
> February 1993 World Trade Center bombing, has no printed guide for 
> citizens. Emergency Management Commissioner John Odermatt said the 
> city would begin information efforts at the moment of crisis, when 
> "public awareness is extremely important." He said there were too 
> many unknowns to advise residents to prepare in advance.
>
> Withholding comment on evacuation is a matter of city policy. 
> Untested internal estimates, created for hurricanes, say as many as 
> 1 million New Yorkers might evacuate with advance warning of six to 
> 72 hours. A sudden terrorist attack would allow far fewer to leave, 
> but Odermatt said he had "no question" more would try without 
> waiting for direction. The city does not educate residents against 
> this impulse, he said, because "we can't pre-plan an evacuation. It 
> depends on the incident or the type of incident."
>
> C. Virginia Fields, the Manhattan borough president, commissioned 
> her own pamphlet and printed 50,000 copies for a borough of 1.5 
> million. She has not mailed it. "That is a victim of the budget 
> crisis," she said. An aide phoned later to say Fields would tape a 
> radio message this week.
>
> In the District, Williams said that residents "want information, 
> they're adults, and they can deal with it." His government's family 
> preparedness guide strikes a compromise.
>
> It is among the few publications to allude to biochemical terrorism, 
> if euphemistically. But its advice on the subject is questionable. 
> The guide tells residents to "cover your nose and mouth with a wet 
> cloth" in the event of a "technological hazards emergency." The 
> research at Oak Ridge Laboratory in the 1990s found that a wet cloth 
> impeded breathing without benefit. The District also advises people 
> to use wet towels under doors at home, which the study found 
> ineffective.
>
> Peter LaPorte, the District's emergency management director, said he 
> did not know about the Oak Ridge research but "we may need a rewrite 
> to that section." He said the District should be praised for seeking 
> a balance between "a level of seriousness" and spreading fears of a 
> "doomsday scenario."
>
> Nearly all government advice on terrorism sacrifices practical 
> particulars for an unalarming tone. The usual guidance is to 
> maintain a three-day supply of food and water along with a radio, 
> flashlight, batteries and first-aid kit.
>
> The FEMA-produced materials do not mention whether, why or when to 
> evacuate, and they do not advise the public to keep plastic sheeting 
> and duct tape available to prepare a "safe room" if directed by 
> authorities. Federal research on chemical weapons found life-saving 
> benefits in "simple taping and sealing," which cuts exposure to 
> outdoor agents by a factor of 10.
>
> There is also no published government advice for self-protection in 
> the event of a nuclear blast or the detonation of a "dirty bomb," 
> which might scatter radioactive debris. In the immediate vicinity of 
> an atomic blast, there would be few, if any, survivors, but for 
> people farther away or downwind of a dirty bomb, there are available 
> steps. Jane Orient, president of Doctors for Disaster Preparedness, 
> said a rule could be offered in a dozen words: "You need to have 
> mass between yourself and the source of radiation."
>
> Shane said FEMA avoids discussion of specific threats because 
> "whether the cause is an earthquake or a terrorist attack, if the 
> building falls, the consequence is the same."
>
> Still, FEMA prints and promotes many specialized preparedness 
> publications -- for earthquake, fire, flood, heat wave, hurricane, 
> landslide, severe thunderstorm, tornado, tsunami, volcano, wildfire 
> and winter storm. It has none with special preparations for the 
> circumstances of a terrorist attack.
>
> Ridge said FEMA, once it is absorbed into Bush's proposed Department 
> of Homeland Security, would be "a natural agency to give more 
> specific [advice] to prepare for a more specific terrorist event. 
> They're not there yet."
> Breathing Lessons
>
>
> No government agency recommends that people buy respiratory filters 
> in anticipation of an emergency. Yet a 324-page study at the Oak 
> Ridge lab, evaluating more than 1,000 scenarios for evacuation, 
> shelter and respiratory protection, found that inexpensive filter 
> masks "may be used to significantly reduce exposure" to chemical 
> warfare agents and some biological threats, including anthrax.
>
> There are many threats against which the filters are useless, 
> including biological weapons absorbed through the skin. But the 
> study said masks rated "N95," which stop 95 percent of particles 
> over 3 microns in diameter, were valuable against inhaled agents, 
> although improper fit can make them less so. One kind, manufactured 
> by 3M, resembles an oversized surgeon's mask and is available for 
> less than $1.50 each.
>
> Sen. Bill Frist (R-Tenn.), a physician and public health expert, has 
> issued detailed instructions for building a safe room. His book, 
> "When Every Moment Counts," recommends that readers buy N95 masks 
> for each family member. Frist said it would take "eight months to a 
> year" for the executive branch to make up its mind on the masks, and 
> that a similar recommendation from Bush or Ridge might be more 
> alarming to the public.
>
> There is a striking disparity between the public brochures and the 
> information given to about 200,000 untrained civilians who volunteer 
> for a FEMA Community Emergency Response Team.
>
> In simple, bulleted teaching points, instructors conduct the 
> volunteers on a two-hour tour of the federal government's ironically 
> acronymed catalogue of terrorist horrors -- B-NICE, for biological, 
> nuclear, incendiary, chemical and explosive.
>
> It takes 35 minutes, according to the instructor's guide, to teach 
> the volunteers 14 ways to recognize an unconventional attack and 
> simple rules for "self-care and protective action." For example, 
> they learn the "three factors that you can apply for your safety: 
> Time, Distance and Shielding." Because "time is critical" if exposed 
> to chemical agents, instructors tell them not to wait for 
> professional help but to undress and decontaminate with water and 
> soap -- a subject rarely broached with the general public.
>
> On Capitol Hill, even as the government avoids recommending filtered 
> breathing masks for private citizens, Harman of California said, 
> "Our office was counseled to use them when opening the mail."
>
> Recently, Congress got better masks. In bags delivered to each 
> office, the sergeant-at-arms provided enough hooded masks to protect 
> every member of the Senate and the House and their staffs.
>
> © 2002 The Washington Post Company

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