2. All Hazards Planning Edward P. Richards
Director, Program in Law, Science, and Public Health
Harvey A. Peltier Professor of Law
LSU Law Center

3. Problems with Emergency Powers Laws and Thinking
Jurisprudential
Overly specific
Disrupts established legal precedent and legal chains of authority
Creates the illusion that laws solve emergency problems
Practical
Real emergency problems almost never have legal solutions that only apply in emergencies

4. Preparing for Bird Flu Evacuation of New Orleans for Katrina
All Hazards Planning
Preparing for Bird Flu
Evacuation of New Orleans for Katrina

5. Episode-based Plans "Plans to Plan"
Bird flu plans
Anthrax plans
Bomb plans
Plans to plan
What you need to think about, not what you need to do
No operational detail

6. What is an All Hazards Plan?
A unified plan that, as much as possible, uses common strategies for emergency response
Emergency response is built on day-to-day procedures and resources
All Hazards plans are operational plans
They tell you what to do, not just what to plan
The public is fully informed and an integral part of the emergency response

7. Elements of an All Hazards Plan
Analysis of common factors in the different types of emergencies
Relation of these common factors to routine procedures
Modification of existing procedures to incorporate elements that will be needed in emergencies
Public information and education

8. Assumptions Behind All Hazards Planning
Equipment and materiel that is not routinely exercised will not be maintained and will not function when needed
Emergencies are the worst time to change procedures
Public cooperation depends on pre-event education and buy-in

9. Transforming a Bird Flu Plan into an All Hazards Plan
Example
Transforming a Bird Flu Plan into an All Hazards Plan

10. Episode Planning: Bird Flu
Plans for emergency quarantine
Plans for ethical guidelines on vaccine allocation
Plans for stockpiles of PPE
Plans to work with public health, including an MOU that says we will play nicely
Plans for how to plan to handle the SNS
Maybe some training on how to put on a mask

11. All Hazard Planning: Bird Flu
What are core problems?
Protecting staff from infection
Assuring adequate staff for operations
What are related issues?
Yearly flu pandemic
Exposure to tuberculosis and other communicable diseases in the workplace

12. All Hazards Recommendations: Vaccinations
Assure vaccination status of employees
Mumps, measles, etc, which can disable a force
Yearly flu
Benefits
Reduction in lost time from work
Readiness if there is an outbreak
Resolves individual and union opposition to vaccination before there is an emergency

13. All Hazards Recommendations: Working Sick
US culture and especially law enforcement encourages people to work sick
Limits on sick days
Rules that you cannot be on special teams
Increases the spread of diseases such as the flu in the workplace
Set up criteria for exclusion of contagious workers
Change work rules to eliminate punishment for being excluded so employees will not hide illness

14. All Hazards Recommendations: Personal Protection
Key personal protection
hand washing
behavior limitations - handshaking, etc.
goggles, masks
Recommendations
Train and equip all officers
Use these for regular flu and other possible disease exposures
Make behavioral modifications so these become routine

15. All Hazards Recommendations: Public Information
There maybe a need to limit travel or impose home quarantine
The public should be educated about all aspects of these possible limitations
What is their role?
Why is it important?
How will essential services be provided?
How will you assure families will not be separated?
This will identify problematic areas and reduce confusion in an emergency

16. All Hazards Planning: Staffing
Staffing in emergencies
Any emergency that threatens the general public will threaten the employees families
You have to provide for the families if you want staff to show up
Develop a general plan for family issues

17. Evaluation: Episode Based Planning
Episode based plans are invisible until there is an emergency
These are very low probability events
The only testing is by artificial exercises
Quality control theory (Demings, etc.)
You can only achieve quality through iterative improvement based on data analysis and feedback
This is impossible with an episode based plan

18. Evaluation: All Hazards Planning
All Hazards planning does fit the criteria for proper quality control
Elements of the plan are in operation at all times
This provides intermediate data, i.e., things to measure short of a disaster happening
Improves routine operations
There is almost no data on communicable diseases in most workplaces

19. Political Reality
The public (legislature) has a short attention span and will not support emergency response once they move on to the next crisis de jure
Reality Check:
23 states, including most of the most populous, have done away with mandatory childhood vaccinations
Are you health department employees fully immunized?
What if you had to investigate the recent mumps epidemic?

20. The Blind Men and the Elephant Why the Evacuation Failed
Lessons from Katrina
The Blind Men and the Elephant
Why the Evacuation Failed

21. Transportation Issues Surface Causes
Evacuation not triggered until too late
No provision for moving folks without transportation
When transport was available - school busses - there was no provision for drivers
No provisions for jails and hospitals
No provision for secondary evacuation form the Superdome and other facilities

22. Transportation Issues: Surface Solutions
Better plans
More modes of transportation
Earlier evacuations
"Manditory" evacuations
All sound, but all miss the point

23. Transportation Issues: Root Causes
New Orleans has flooded frequently
Most of the land that flooded is reclaimed bay and swamp that is up to 20 feet below sea level, not historic New Orleans
People lived next to levees with water 5 feet over street level every day
Flood insurance was not required because it was assumed that the levees could not break

24. The Implications of a Real Evacuation
The only reason to really evacuate is if the levees fail, which was ruled out
The Superdome and shelters of last resort
Delaying the call for evacuation
Why?
40 years of false alarms
Admitting the levees could fail would destroy the real estate values in New Orleans
Routine serious evacuations destroy business

25. The Real Lessons from Katrina
Plans based on politically unacceptable actions will not be carried out
Long term prevention loses out to short term economic and political considerations
Do not build in dangerous areas
Require realistic risk analysis for insurance
Do not downplay risks that cannot be managed

26. How Would All Hazards Planning Have Changed the Outcome?
Focus would have been on the risks of living below sea level, not just on the evacuation
Planning would have explicitly included levee failure
Flood insurance
Business interruption insurance
Meeting appropriate life-safety codes for hospitals
Personal evacuation planning
Addressing these would have changed the political dynamic, allowing a proper evacuation