NCORP press briefing at the National Press Club | 06.20.2006 | 10:09:54 | Views: 5407 | ID: June 20 '06: The first 72 hours of a crisis are the most important times for a community to be prepared until federal, state and local emergency response operations can begin to help those residents in need. That was the message at the National Press Club on Tuesday when officials from local first responders and leaders of the private sector and academia gathered to discuss the creation and organization of the National Council on Readiness and Preparedness. Former Virginia Governor James Gilmore said, "We need to have a plan for the first 72 hours," and that, "NCORP can push forward on individual initiative and not wait for anyone else to do it for us. ... We can't wait any longer. We cannot expect the federal government to help us in the first 72 hours. There is no 'they'." NCORP, a grass-roots organization, was formed to continue the work of the Gilmore Commission, a Congressionally-mandated commission begun during the Clinton administration, which was charged with identifying the most pressing security threats to the United States. Because of the nature of responding to an emergency, NCORP developed five key areas that would work to "integrate resources into the national template template by providing essential resources and networks that link them together." Across the country since the attacks on September 11, 2001 and in 2005 with Hurricane Katrina, there have been local and regional efforts by the private sector and individual people to help bring together communities and organizations to build response plans, however those efforts have been "uneven and unorganized," according to Gilmore. NCORP would help "facilitate those efforts. ... We can't dictate what do, but we can suggest," he continued. "There has to be a game plan," to coordinate state and local governments, the private sector and the community with the federal government because "there is a need for a vehicle to facilitate partnership with the Department of Homeland Security."Through a program called the Ready America Initiative, NCORP outlined five major areas of emergency response and preparedness: addressing public health and medical situations, surge capacity and the ability of regional, local and community health officials to respond to a crisis; training and equipping citizens with the necessary tools to help respond to a threat or crisis; giving the public the necessary information to help make educated decisions about how to best prepare; providing information for federal, state, local and tribal communities on disaster readiness and networking; and helping to respond and contain an emergency when it happens. NCORP is a 501c(3) established to enhance community and public/private partnerships concerning community preparedness. For more information about NCORP please visit the website at http://www.ncorp.org/ or call Governor Gilmore at 202.342.8506. Media Contact: Dan Kreske at 202.342.8561 (office) or 804.852.9042 (mobile).
Copyright ©2007 TheBreakingNews.com. All Rights Reserved. No reproduction in part or full without prior written permission.
|