States hosting cooperative emergency exercise and preparedness programs | 10.10.2006 | 06:56:41 | Views: 5722 | ID: October 10 '06: Several regional and state-wide emergency preparedness exercises and cooperative programs are underway around the US this week. The cooperation between state and local governments and the private sector, religious groups and school systems shows what one organizer in Minnesota calls an effort "to be self-reliant in case of an emergency, even if you never experience one personally." There, in Minnesota, state officials in Rochester and the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints hosted an emergency preparedness workshop. During the workshop, "People could learn tips from the experts including the obvious of how to make emergency kits, and the not so obvious of your legal and financial planning," a local NBC affiliate reported. Molly Gilbert, the organizer of the workshop told the NBC station, "There's been lots of talk about preparedness and people looking toward the government for relief and sometimes the relief that comes is a long time coming because of the nature of the disaster and how long it takes to get everybody." In Utah, educators and emergency preparedness officials worked to teach students how to respond to an emergency situation so the "kids won't be as scared if they know what to do and know they will be taken care of," an NBC affiliate reported. Janalee Boam, and emergency preparedness specialist working with the students said, "I hope that all the parents understand that the reason that we're here is [to make] sure that their kids are safe and protected in the case of an emergency, until we can reunite them with their parents." In Louisiana, the St. Tammany Parish Emergency Operations Center will host an emergency exercise on Wednesday in cooperation with regional officials from other parishes, the Department of Animal Services, and other state officials. The goal of the exercise, the local paper St. Tammany reported, will be "to focus on communications between the different agencies, transfer of information to the responsible authorities as well as a test of the various communications equipment installed in the Emergency Operations Center," in St. Tammany.
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