Posted on 07/21/2006 5:21:44 PM PDT by blam
Disaster drill preps Los Angeles for the inevitable
by Zachary Slobig
Fri Jul 21, 12:15 PM ET
AFP Photo: LA Metro Police practice riot control during an exercise to simulate the response of local...
LOS ALAMITOS, United States (AFP) - Helicopters swooped in and unloaded cops to quell angry crowds -- with batons that never made contact and rubber bullets that were only props in a disaster response drill.
Federal military and Southern California law enforcement teamed up for an elaborate simulation of a disaster response system that authorities hope would avoid the horrors following Hurricane Katrina last August.
US Marines and navy medics joined Los Angeles police, sheriffs and fire departments, making this one of the first large-scale inter-agency, federal and local training exercises to date.
The three-day drill took place on Los Alamitos Joint Forces Training Base between Orange and Los Angeles Counties, home to 13 million people.
"We all can practice as a team before the big event," said Department of Homeland Security spokesman, Pete Verga. "We all were quite dismayed at the relief efforts in response to Katrina, and we know that Southern California has a high potential of both man-made and natural disaster."
Thursday's "big event" was a catastrophic, 8.0 magnitude earthquake that cut area highways and crippled the city, leaving countless scores stranded, hungry and unruly. Electricity, natural gas and water lines were all assumed inoperable.
A seismologist at the University of California at San Diego, Yuri Fialko, recently published a study arguing that the southern portion of the San Andreas fault, running under Los Angeles, will soon end its long period of dormancy.
In short, it is a question of when, not if the Big One will strike.
"This is exactly what we should be preparing for," said Los Angeles County Sheriff, Lee Baca.
"Furthermore, every family should be prepared with food and water for at least three days in the event of any disaster."
Thursday's drill takes place presumably two days after a catastrophic earthquake, which caught most people unprepared. One hundred Marines in civilian clothes played an angry mob desperately in need of basic resources.
Gathering in the streets of the mock urban environment, the "mob" shouted for food and water and taunted a column of stoic uniformed Marines while two helicopters circled overhead.
"We've got to make sure Katrina doesn't happen again," said gunnery Sergeant Matthew Olivolo of the US Marine Corps. Behind him, the "mob" hurled plastic water bottles at the approaching SWAT team.
"In the end we're all going to work together and make sure that everyone's OK," said Olivolo.
"Interoperability" was the buzzword for the day. Authorities said exercises like this facilitate communication between local, regional and federal authorities.
In the run-through, a communications system developed by Northrop Grumman hooked up a NASA WB-57 high-altitude airplane with the Internet to send images, video, voice and messages between agencies.
"The ability of disparate military, federal and local agencies to communicate has often been the weakest link of disaster response," said Mike Twyman, Vice President of Northrop Grumman Mission Systems. This new airborne node aims to provide communication with no ground infrastructure during a disaster.
Still, those on the ground must work together. After the crowd control exercise, Los Angeles firefighters and naval medics performed search-and-rescue operations and triaged the "wounded".
Front doors were battered down or hacked to bits with chainsaws. Earthquake "victims" -- with artificial blood and protruding bones -- were rushed to waiting navy vehicles.
"I think this one needs morphine," shouted a navy medic as a victim moaned in pain from what appeared to be a severed leg.
Military chaplains were even on hand.
"I'm here to spend time with people expected to die," said Commander David Rodriguez, a navy chaplain who had just returned from duty in Iraq.
Airlifts using C-130 helicopters, the largest in the US military, whisked the wounded to local hospitals.
With the anniversary of Hurricane Katrina fast approaching, and a mild earthquake felt in California Wednesday, disaster preparedness is a priority.
"California is no stranger to disaster," said Verga. "We don't want to be exchanging business cards on the day of the emergency."
* Tsunami
* Race riots
* Electrical black-out
* Fire storm
* Bird Flu
* Nuke by terrorists
* Severe water shortage
AAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHH, HAAAAAAAA, HAAAAAAAA, HAAAAA, HAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA
<pause to take a breath>
AAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHH, HAAAAAAAA, HAAAAAAAA, HAAAAA, HAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA
If they would have been screaming illegal while doing all that I would have maybe paid to see it.
So, does this mean that the next fatal sexualy transmitted disease to pop up in the gay and sexualy perverted crowd will be met with batons and rubber bullets to contain it's spread to the general population?
I wonder if this is California's plan for when a bunch of ducks and geese fly south for the winter with bird flu. Go get 'em boys, shoot them with rubber bullets and club them in every puddle they land.
Here's a C-130 refueling a plane.
Forced quarantines and riot suppression when no-one has any food at home. The feds have already warned, "You're On Your Own."
So just where are they gonna relocate all the people from L.A. to?
Here's a picture of the C-5 assault canoe, the largest in the US Navy.
That's exactly the question I ask when people mention that NY will probably be nuked at some point. Where do you put millions of refugees?
Too damned many people living in to small a place.
(They'll come to Bakersfield.)
too
(I'm so embarrassed!)
I thot they were talking about 'the inevitable' AZTLAN riots as they try to take over here. The trial run went pretty smoothly, with the Mayor and Police Chief LETTING THEM CLOSE THE FREEWAYS!!
Oh, don't mind me. YES, I am holding a grudge.
That's my fear too. Sure don't want them in Bksfl.
They've already driven the home prices up.
:-(
(bitter...bitter...bitter)
I'm a newbie here who moved from that hellhole. Only been here since '75. It's getting too big now.
'75's not TOO new. What drew you away from the mob?
Can't stand crowds. I like it here and while there are too many people, it's still rural enough that I can drive a short distance to the boonies or mountains and get away from social unrest, should it occur. Not something you can do in the heart of LA in a bad stuation. In 1965, while I was pretty young, I lived 15 miles from the Watts riots. When I got older, I decided I didn't want to be anywhere near there.
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