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AHC ANNOUNCES REPORT FROM 2nd ANNUAL STATE BORDER COORDINATION WORKSHOP

Regional Catastrophic Evacuation Planning Strategies Discussed Amongst States, UASIs and Federal Agencies

Frederick, Md., November 19, 2010 – The All Hazards Consortium (AHC) recently announced the results of its 2nd Annual State Border Coordination Workshop. The workshop focused on capturing regional evacuation planning input from state and local governments in the most populous and largely developed megalopolis in the Western Hemisphere (NC, VA, WV, DC, MD, DE, PA, NJ and NY). This second report, in the border coordination series from the AHC, further identifies gaps in regional evacuation planning and recommends establishing an integrated planning framework between states and federal agencies.

In January of this year more than 190 industry professionals from varying state, local, federal and private organizations jointly discussed the impacts of a catastrophic incident and the possible resulting migration across state borders. Large scale regional planning presents a significant challenge. Through its state border coordination series of workshops, and its work with the Regional Catastrophic Planning Grant Program, the AHC goal is to further cross-jurisdictional border coordination collaboration.

Workshop results are available online, through the AHC’s 2010 2nd Annual Border Coordination Workshop Report. Common themes relating to transportation, communications interoperability, mass care and credentialing/access management are highlighted. Collaboration is key for on-going regional planning activities, especially in regards to coordination between homeland security, emergency management, transportation, law enforcement, public health, the private sector and other related organizations. Participants also noted the need to know what regional resources are available prior to and during an event, in addition, a regional funding and sustainability strategy is desirable.

“We are very excited to make the results of our 2nd Annual State Border Coordination Workshop available online as part of our white paper research collection,” said Roland “Bud” Mertz, Secretary, AHC. “Regional coordination is a complex process that involves many stakeholders, everyone at the workshop was in general agreement that a regional effort of this magnitude is a considerable challenge, but that it can be accomplished collaboratively.”

A general summary of next steps includes; a complete inventory of regional stakeholders and current initiatives, development of an overall vision and strategic plan, creation of a regional governance structure with focused working groups, identification of mechanisms for regional planning and creation of enhanced information sharing mechanisms.

Detailed findings of the report are noted in the functional group write up sections, and are available at www.ahcusa.org.

 

About the AHC:
The All Hazards Consortium (AHC) is a 501c3 non-profit organization guided by the regional states of North Carolina, District of Columbia, Maryland, Virginia, West Virginia, Delaware, Pennsylvania, New Jersey and New York. The AHC’s mission is to convene, facilitate and document a sustained process of interactions between states to help create new resources and funding opportunities for the states to address key and timely multi-state issues. Formed in 2005, the AHC continues to build a network of people and organizations from government, private sector, higher education and non-profit/volunteer organizations that work together on common problems facing the multi-state region. For more information about AHC activities and events, please visit www.ahcusa.org