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Not to change the subject, but here's an update on the disaster plan for DC & Baltimore. When this story initially broke, the team who developed the plan were on the "nuclear" committee. Those initial reports stated the plan was developed to deal with nuked victims from DC and Baltimore. The reports specifically said that victims would be radiated, burned, and many blinded.
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Frederick Mayor Upset Over Terror Casualty Plan
County Plan Calls For Transport Of Area Casualties To Frederick Fairgrounds

POSTED: 5:41 pm EST March 23, 2004
UPDATED: 6:59 pm EST March 23, 2004

FREDERICK, Md. -- A plan to use a Frederick fairground to treat casualties in a terror attack has the town's mayor speaking out.

The flap started after Frederick County officials made the decision without any input from Mayor Jennifer Dougherty, WBAL-TV 11 News reporter Lowell Melser reported.

The Genesis Plan calls for Washington, D.C., and Baltimore residents to go to the Frederick area in the event of an attack. The plan would direct victims of a potential chemical or biological attack to Frederick.

Officials are planning for preparations to deal with a mass exodus from the two cities to the Frederick area, but many in Frederick said they don't know what plan is about.

"Do I feel like the Genesis Project is poorly organized or holding back information? Both," Dougherty said.

Video

Frederick Co. Officials Plan For Disaster Without City Input
The mayor held an executive meeting Monday night, expecting to hear details, but she learned nothing, Melser reported.

"[There was] no map, no description. It was a replay of a video tape of four or five people talking at a podium," Dougherty said.

But parts of the plan have supposedly been leaked to the public, including the use of the Frederick County Fairground (pictured, left) as a staging area to treat as many as 500,000 possibly contaminated people, Melser reported.

"In the event of something terribly bad happening in Washington or Baltimore creates a public health risk for the city of Frederick and I don't think that I should stand quietly by while that happens," Dougherty said.

The mayor has called for an emergency executive session for Wednesday night to "put more meat on the bones," Melser reported. And on Thursday night, a public meeting has been scheduled where the mayor hopes to have a plan in place to present.

Stay with TheWBALChannel.com and WBAL-TV 11 News for the latest news updates.

TheWBALChannel.com.

© 2004, Internet Broadcasting Systems, Inc.

Here's an item about a potential bioattack in Japan. Didn't the AQ's threaten a maritime attack on Japan? I wonder if we are looking at AQ exploding germ filled container boats in harbors.

Herald Tribune/Asahi Asahi Weekly from SiliconValley from NY Times.com

PREPARE FOR TERROR: U.S. health chief warns of bio-attack
By TSUTOMU YAMASHITA,The Asahi Shimbun

Japan should follow the lead of the United States in preparing for bio-terrorism attacks that are certain to hit both countries, the U.S. secretary of health and human services said Monday.

``It is not if there is going to be an attack in Japan, it is when it is going to be,'' Tommy G. Thompson said in an interview with The Asahi Shimbun.

``Japan is going to have a bio-terrorism attack sometime in the future, just like America is going to have.''

Thompson said there are terrorists everywhere, even in democratic countries. The March 11 terrorist attack in Madrid shows they can strike at any time, he said.

Thompson urged Japan, which has yet to compile a comprehensive plan to deal with bio-terrorism, to take a close look at what the United States has done.

``We have 8,000 medical personnel that practice medicine full-time in hospitals and clinics during the daytime, but have been trained by my department so that if we have a bio-terrorism attack, we can call them up and deploy them into any state, any community,'' he said.

Such personnel can vaccinate and organize emergency procedures in the event of a terrorist attack, he said.

``I urge your (Japanese) government to come and see what I am doing and look at ways in which they could replicate the same things in Japan,'' he said.

Thompson also noted that the United States has 600 tons of medical supplies, equipment, and anti-viral drugs ready for use following a terrorist attack.

``We can deploy into any city in America within seven hours 50 tons of medical supplies and equipment in order to control a bio-terrorism attack,'' he said.

Thompson was in Japan as chairman of the Global Fund to Fight AIDS, Tuberculosis and Malaria at an international symposium titled ``Human Security Challenges of HIV/AIDS and Communicable Diseases in Asia.''

The symposium was held at a hotel in Tokyo on Monday.(IHT/Asahi: March 23,2004) (03/23)

Sounds like the Mayor is going to hafta get a grip! Survivors will have to be evacuated from a ground zero area. Sick people, too, must be moved, if possible. Hum, seems to me the Mayor needs to develop her own evac program. Get her town emptied out before sick folks arrive? Hummmmmm. I dunno, tough one to face, for sure. If something awful happens, I expect alot of smaller towns surrounding our big cities will be made available for survivors and treatment centers. At least, I hope so. Whoever happens to live at or near ground zero, will need our help. That Mayor's attitude is NOT helpful.imho