The Webster Progress-Times

Webster County needs to be proactive in preparing a disaster response plan, a local emergency services official said Tuesday.

Paramedic Director Todd Shettles of North Mississippi Medical Center-Eupora made the remarks during a presentation about local emergency planning to the Eupora Rotary Club. He said the hospital's Emergency Medical Services professionals have gone through hundreds of hours of training dealing with responses to possible terrorist attacks since 2001. They will participate in a regional disaster drill July 7 in Ripley.

"Our way of thinking has to be that they're (terrorists) out to kill us (emergency responders), he said.

Shettles explained that the county has received or been allocated domestic preparedness grant funds totaling $116,000, including $25,000 for improved radio communications, from the Federal Emergency Management Agency. This equipment can be used in responding to natural disasters, hazardous materials and terrorist attacks.

Local governments are required to have an approved local mitigation plan in place before Nov. 1 in order to remain eligible for FEMA's Hazard Mitigation Grant Program.

For a plan to be accepted, local governments must meet these requirements from FEMA, according to a press release from the Mississippi Emergency Management Agency:

Documenting that the public was involved in the planning process.

Assess the hazards to the community and the risk to current or future development.

Develop a mitigation strategy to reduce the potential risk.

Develop a plan maintenance schedule to monitor and evaluate the plan every five years.

Adoption by the local governing body.

Once a plan is submitted and approved by MEMA, it is then submitted to FEMA for approval.

The county, Shettles pointed out, is in the process of organizing a Local Emergency Planning Committee for this purpose and has the right people to do so. He asked the Rotarians to encourage county officials to get to work on the required plan so that grant money won't be lost.

"We need to be proactive in getting this plan together for our community," he said. "We don't need to sit back and wait for an episode (of terrorism) to happen."