SENATOR COLLINS RELEASES STATEMENT ON NATIONWIDE PLAN REVIEW, PHASE 2 REPORT

WASHINGTON, D.C.—Senator Susan Collins, Chairman of the Senate Homeland Security Committee, issued the following statement on the Administration’s Nationwide Plan Review, Phase 2 report that was released this afternoon.   “The Nationwide Plan Review is an all-points-bulletin calling out for more and better catastrophic planning in states and cities across the nation.  The urgent message echoes what Senator Lieberman and I found in our committee’s exhaustive investigation of what went wrong in the days preceding and following Hurricane Katrina.  The Review shows that Louisiana’s lack of planning is all too common among states and urban areas.  It greatly concerns me that the vast majority of state and urban area plans would not be sufficient to cope with a catastrophic event, that most do not do an adequate job setting forth an incident command structure, and that none satisfactorily addresses special needs populations, the most vulnerable people of all during catastrophes.               “One silver lining is that the Review could serve as a badly needed wake up call to states and cities – as well as the federal government – that, together, they must dramatically step up their planning efforts.  As the Department of Homeland Security works to remedy its own failings, it is important that state and city emergency managers also heed the urgent call to action in this Review.               “Senator Lieberman and I will soon introduce legislation to address several findings from our Katrina report.  Our goal is to strengthen and increase preparedness and response capabilities nationwide, and ensuring robust, effective planning is one of the necessary steps.”