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Civil Preparedness Activities

Published: Feb 07, 1977. Publicly Released: Feb 07, 1977.
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Highlights

The need for civil preparedness and defense have not been prominent among national priorities or funding. The current program provides for a federal, state, and local structure to plan for and carry out emergency operations, and plans are being developed for evacuation to "safe" areas. The program does not adequately consider postattack preparedness of industrial survival and recovery or continuation of government operations. Although organizational structures exists to prepare for nuclear and natural holocausts, at the state and local levels these concentrate on natural disasters. It is questionable whether a program based on voluntary state and local participation can be fully effective. Maps have been developed showing about 400 likely military and population targets, which have been grouped into three levels of expected risk. People will be moved to safe areas away from attack, if time permits, otherwise they will be sheltered in public buildings. But the existing shelters and contingent plans for their use need improvement. Legislation should be requested to allow graduated federal funding according to area need. Federal agencies involved in the program should coordinate more closely their activities. The shelters for the federal agencies should be completed soon, and plans for use of the shelter should be formulated. State and local governments should make early preparations now, and should be required to establish criteria for writing the annual programs reports. Relocation planning should be reconsidered in densely populated areas. Questions concerning the basic concepts of civil preparedness should be answered, before an effective program can be developed.

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