Berkeley Alert II – A Community Exercise in Terrorism Response

Author

G. H. Zeman

Abstract

In June 2004 a table-top exercise on response to a terrorism scenario was held in the City of Berkeley, California. The scenario involved a hypothetical radiological dispersal device detonated in the city. Five organizations located in Berkeley participated: the City of Berkeley, Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory, the University of California at Berkeley, Alta Bates-Summit Medical Center, and Bayer HealthCare. The exercise was patterned after a similar exercise in 2002 that identified a need for closer coordination among participating organizations to ensure consistency of public information releases. In this year's exercise a Joint Information Center (JIC) was formed to coordinate information releases in a manner patterned after the newly released National Incident Management System. During the exercise the JIC was located near the city emergency operations center and was staffed by a public affairs representative from each organization as well as a health physicist. Planning and training sessions during the weeks prior to the exercise contributed to the success of the JIC. The establishment of a JIC for this exercise has set an excellent precedent that can now be activated for any emergency response scenario affecting the multiple interdependent organizations in our local community.

Meeting

This abstract was presented at the 38th Annual Midyear Meeting, "Materials Control and Security: Risk Assessment, Handling, and Detection", Emergency Response Planning and Programs – Part I Session, 2/13/2005 - 2/16/2005, held in New Orleans, LA.

 
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