DATE: Friday, July 25, 1997                 TAG: 9707250009

SECTION: LOCAL                   PAGE: B10  EDITION: FINAL 

TYPE: Editorial 

                                            LENGTH:   51 lines

REGIONAL EMERGENCY PLANNER HIRE ONE SOON

Hampton Roads lacks a written regional plan for dealing with a huge emergency such as a hurricane.

Individual cities have plans, but not the whole region.

It's high time the region got one.

A proposal being considered by Peninsula and South Hampton Roads leaders is the hiring of a full-time Hampton Roads emergency planner.

Do it. Before a hurricane comes calling.

The idea is supported by the Hampton Roads Emergency Management Committee, whose members are the emergency coordinators for the region's cities and counties. The military, Coast Guard, Red Cross and Virginia Department of Emergency Services are also involved.

That committee, which has met monthly for more than six years, knows well the need for a regional plan.

During an actual emergency, the planner would not be in charge of operations. Individual localities would remain responsible for themselves. But the planner should be able to prepare regional strategies for evacuation and later recovery.

For example, if a hurricane hits Hampton Roads and trucks come to the area bearing food, water, diapers, etc., where should they go? Better that a plan be in place before the storm hits, a plan that treats all localities fairly.

If Norfolk is devastated by a storm and Virginia Beach isn't, and if Norfolk attempts to keep everyone out during the initial cleanup, what steps would be needed to get Virginia Beach residents home?

After the storm, where will all the debris go? There would be far more of it than existing landfills could hold.

Most of the emergency coordinators in Hampton Roads have other professional responsibilities. For example, in many cities, the fire chief or sheriff doubles as the emergency coordinator. What time he or she has to plan for emergencies is mostly spent looking out for one locality, not the region.

A full-time regional emergency planner is needed to prepare a regionwide emergency plan.

Without an overall strategy agreed to in advance, cities easily could bicker over who gets what or what needs to be done next. They might bicker anyway, actually, but surely they'd bicker less.

Hampton Roads residents on both sides of the water should demand a written regional emergency plan. It's not enough that Virginia Beach or Newport News has a good plan. The storm will not follow city lines.

Some leaders have recommended that a regional emergency planner be hired by the Hampton Roads Planning District Commission. That makes sense.

Hiring the planner should be a high priority. A very high priority. The region won't dodge hurricanes forever.

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