120 Cities Most at Risk [Surviving Terrorism]

Surviving Terrorism.com ^ | 2-10-03 | Jarret B. Wollstein

[Salvation]

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120 Cities Most at Risk
Of Terrorist Attacks

For the past few years, the federal government has been providing training and assistance to police and emergency response workers in the 120 cities considered most at risk of terrorist attacks. A complete list of those cities appears at the end of this report.

As you will see, the list includes major government centers (Philadelphia, Miami, Sacramento, Washington, D.C.), cities with extensive industry (Detroit, Houston, San Jose), major business centers (Chicago, Miami, Philadelphia), important media centers (New York, Los Angeles, Washington, D.C.), major seaports (Newport News, Oakland, San Diego, Tampa), and important military facilities (Colorado Springs, Honolulu, Long Beach, Norfolk, San Francisco).

The federal government is providing extensive training for police and emergency workers in these 120 cities, including preparation for conventional (e.g., bomb), biological, chemical, and radiological (“dirty bomb”) attacks. However ...

Are the “At Risk Cities” Now Prepared?

The short answer is no, they are not. So if you live in or within 50 miles of these cities, you should consider yourself at significant risk for the duration of the War on Terror, which President Bush says could last as long as 50 years.

Fifty miles should be considered the minimal safe distance from an “at risk” city. The reason is that in event of even a small radiological or nuclear attack (5-20 kiloton weapon), lethal radiation and fallout will be carried by prevailing winds at least that far. In plain English, if the winds are blowing away from you, you will probably survive if you are 10-20 miles away. However, if winds are blowing toward you, you will probably be dead in a few days. Similarly, in event of a major biological attack, winds and fleeing survivors could easily carry pathogens at least 50 miles.

In the event a more serious attack, you may need to be as much as 100-300 miles away from a target city to survive.

While the government is now attempting to train emergency personnel in the 120 cities at greatest risk, please recognize it will take many years before most cities are even minimally prepared. Even then, government assistance is absolutely no guarantee that there will be enough drugs, water and food to go around for everyone in the event of a radiological, nuclear, or biological attack, which could put hundreds of thousands, even millions of people at risk. In many cases, the consequences will be nationwide.

Furthermore, there are many biological weapons for which no effective treatments exist, and the only protection is to not be anywhere in the area when people are exposed, and to get out before you and your family are exposed.

Also, in a crisis, expect emergency facilities—including hospitals and medical clinics —to be quickly overwhelmed. In fact, they are likely to be reservoirs of disease and contagion.

Dark Winter: What to Expect in the
Event of a Bioterrorist Attack

On June 22-23, 2001, the Center for Strategic and International Studies (CSIS) conducted what they term “a senior-level war game” examining the likely consequences of a smallpox outbreak in the U.S. Again, let me emphasis this is an exercise based on high-level computer analysis and prediction, not an actual occurrence.

The results were alarming: During the exercise, smallpox was projected to spread to 25 states and 15 foreign countries. By the 13th day of the exercise, “A total of 16,000 smallpox cases have been reported in 25 states.” But that’s just the beginning.

By the end of the exercise, the National Security Council projects “that in worst-case conditions, the third generation of cases could conceivably comprise as many as 3,000,000 cases of smallpox and lead to as many as 1,000,000 deaths.” (“Shining Light on ‘Dark Winter’,” Center for Civilian Biodefense Strategies, Johns Hopkins University, Baltimore, Maryland, Electronically published 19 February 2002.)

Other conclusions of the Dark Winter study:

• “States have restricted nonessential travel.”
• “Food shortages are growing in some places, and the national economy is suffering.”
• “Residents have fled and are fleeing cities where new cases emerge.”
• “Canada and Mexico have closed their borders to the United States.”
• “The public demands mandatory isolation of smallpox victims and their contacts, but identifying contacts has become logistically impossible.”
• “The individual actions of US citizens will be critical to ending the spread of contagious diseases.”

This last point to me is the most important lesson of Dark Winter: To survive you need to prepare in advance.

For more information on Dark Winter, check out the collection of articles here and here. The last link is from the University of Chicago.

120 Cities Most at Risk
State	City
Alabama	Birmingham
	Mobile
	Montgomery
Alaska	Anchorage
Arkansas	Little Rock
Arizona	Phoenix
	Mesa
	Tucson
California	Anaheim
	Bakersfield
	Fremont
	Fresno
	Glendale
	Huntington Beach
	Long Beach
	Los Angeles
	Modesto
	Oakland
	Riverside
	San Bernardino
	San Diego
	San Francisco
	Santa Ana
	San Jose
	Sacramento
	Stockton
Colorado	Aurora
	Colorado Springs
	Denver
District of Columbia	Washington
Florida	Fort Lauderdale
	Hialeah
	Jacksonville
	Miami
	Orlando
	St. Petersburg
	Tampa
Georgia	Atlanta
	Columbus
Hawaii	Honolulu
Illinois	Chicago
Indiana	Fort Wayne
	Indianapolis
Iowa	Des Moines
Kansas	Kansas City
	Wichita
Kentucky	Lexington
	Louisville
Louisiana	Baton Rouge
	Metaire
	New Orleans
	Shreveport
Maryland	Baltimore
Massachusetts	Boston
	Springfield
	Worcester
Michigan	Detroit
	Grand Rapids
	Warren
Minnesota	Minneapolis
	St. Paul
Mississippi	Jackson
Missouri	Kansas City
	St. Louis
Nebraska	Lincoln
	Omaha
Nevada	Las Vegas
New Jersey	Jersey City
	Newark
New Mexico	Albuquerque
New York	Buffalo
	New York
	Rochester
	Syracuse
	Yonkers
North Carolina	Charlotte
	Greensboro
	Raleigh
Ohio	Akron
	Cincinnati
	Cleveland
	Columbus
	Dayton
	Toledo
Oklahoma	Oklahoma City
	Tulsa
Oregon	Portland
Pennsylvania	Philadelphia
	Pittsburgh
Rhode Island	Providence
Tennessee	Chattanooga
	Knoxville
	Memphis
	Nashville
Texas	Amarillo
	Arlington
	Austin
	Corpus Christi
	Dallas
	El Paso
	Fort Worth
	Garland
	Houston
	Irving
	Lubbock
	San Antonio
Utah	Salt Lake City
Virginia	Arlington
	Chesapeake
	Newport News
	Norfolk
	Richmond
	Virginia Beach
Washington	Seattle
	Spokane
	Tacoma
Wisconsin	Madison
	Milwaukee

[badfreeper]

"Better to wonder why Newark, NJ made the list."

Major international airport?

[sarcasm]

Alabama	Birmingham
	Mobile
	Montgomery

[Salvation]

And you don't think it would be a target?

[Salvation]

Thanks for that red and blue reminder!

[Salvation]

**It was number 50 on another list I saw several months ago.**

I knew there had been another list! Can you link it?

[Mears]

Serious,serious,serious!!!!

[Martin Tell]

they'll find a better target than Modesto ...

Yeah, and my town of Nashville is on there as well. How come? Strike at the Great Satan's war mongering country music industry???

[MadelineZapeezda]

Oh my God! I think I just consumed some in my coffee. What do I do??????????

[Arthalion]

Well, at least most people know where Nashville is. Until old Gary decided to play "hide the sausage" with his intern, most of this country (and even most of California) had never heard of Modesto. We were just a quiet little ag town slash bedroom community tucked into the middle of the California farm belt. We have no major manufacturing base, no ports, no major highway or rail transfer centers, no important airports, sporting events, or monuments...heck, we don't even have a decent Wal-Mart.

If terrorists nuked Nashville, the American people would be up in arms over the loss of a national icon. If they nuked Modesto, well...I'd just hope you'd miss us :-)

[MamaB]

I have no idea where I saw it. I just remember my city being 50 and I thought that was because of the Patriot missile being developed at Redstone Arsenal. I will do some research and see if I can find it somewhere. It may have been in the HSV Times. Seems like it was before Christmas.

[Riley]

Surely, Manchester or Nashua are better than Portland, Oregon.

Ever been to Portland, Oregon? Portland is home to the US National Strategic Stockpile of River Bridges. It's unbelievable- you can't swing a cat without hitting a river bridge.

[Martin Tell]

If terrorists nuked Nashville ...

Thanks for your kind words (and yes, I would miss Modesto as well - it sounds so modest).

This reminds me of a (true) story I heard: During the Cuban Missle Crisis a local politician in rural TN was giving a speech about how they were ready for when the Cuban nukes hit the local town. The big city (Nashville) visiting pol, took the local aside and whispered, "Look no one is gonna lob a missle at Podunk!" The local looked offended and replied, "Well, we are the county seat."

[Arthalion]

LOL! Reminds me of the bomb blast drills we had when I was a kid. I grew up in a tiny little farm burb (~2000 people) southwest of Modesto, and I remember a girl once asking my teacher something similar after a duck 'n cover drill. She asked the teacher why the Soviets would attack such a tiny place, and the teacher launched into a 20 minute monologue explaining why the town grain silo and cheese factory were so important to the USA. Even at eight years old, we knew she was full of it :-)

Oh, and Modesto is the Spanish word for modest. History has it that the town was originally going to be named Ralstonville after William Ralson, one of the founders of the Central Pacific Railroad (who built the original town), but Ralston reportedly shot the idea down stating that he'd never curse a town with such a horrid name. Because of that modesty, they named it Modesto in his honor. About a year ago I had a friend visiting from Colorado. After being here a few days he remarked that this is one of the most accurately named cities he's ever visited :-)

[Pagey]

If you live within 50 miles of any of the cities listed..."

Great, thanks, but we see them everyday here in L.A. County, and we've been aware of this for quite a while now.What is the general purpose of an article like this? Did the writer think that it would make people start,(Ohhhhhhh Don't You Say It) start uhhhhhh, Profiling? Well, many of us have been doing that daily since 9/11.Are You?

[Freedom2specul8]

You probably already knew this...but FYI anyway.

[barker]

Thanks Kim.

[okie01]

"The bad guys and there stuff will come across the Mexican border and head up I-35 as far as the can go...

"The correct list of cities actually tracks the major commercial freeways of the country. And, with our foolish refusal to seal the dangerous Mexican border, it is probably already too late."

Actually, the Islamic terrorists seem far more comfortable entering the country through Canada. In fact, I'm not aware of a single one who entered via Mexico.

There is a good reason why they are routed through Canada. The Islamists are far more likely to speak English than Spanish.

[BamaBlue]

Shhh!!! Let's not tell anybody about Huntsville. It's just our secret. Okay?!?

[B4Ranch]

Take a look at this

http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/news/search?s=120+cities&ok=Search&m=exact&o=time

[tomkat]

montgomery's prolly on the list 'cause that's where the angels come from ...