Validation of Federal Regional Centers' Emergency Manning

In a followup to a report on civil defense, six underground Federal Regional Centers were surveyed to determine whether emergency preparedness teams had adequate knowledge relating to their assignments. Responses to a questionnaire from a statistical sample were summarized as follows: 72 percent of personnel would be available in an emergency, 41 percent had written guidelines or instructions covering assigned responsibilities, 29 percent had been briefed on emergency duties within the past 12 months, 42 percent had visited assigned centers, 21 percent had been to centers and participated in an emergency exercise within the last 18 months, 5 percent had not visited their centers but knew how to get there in an emergency, and 37 percent had some type of credentials for gaining admittance to centers. Of persons queried about their ability to respond to an emergency situation, 20 percent felt very prepared, 10 percent felt somewhat prepared, 11 percent felt prepared, 7 percent felt somewhat unprepared, and 3 percent felt very unprepared. Responsibility for assigning personnel to emergency teams and keeping lists of assignments rests with the Federal Preparedness Agency which has delegated portions of this responsibility to participating federal agencies.