Public Safety Partnership Tested by Exercise Tremor
An earthquake rattles Boston. Transit service is disabled. The Northeast rail corridor is shut down and bus service is unavailable. The Massachusetts Turnpike, a major artery into the city, is closed to the Newton tolls. The tower at Logan International Airport is down and the city of Boston is in the dark.
Exercise Tremor, a homeland security training initiative developed by the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA), was executed recently in New England to familiarize Federal, state and local emergency personnel with their roles and responsibilities in the event of an earthquake.
"While this was an earthquake exercise, our response concept of operations is for all hazards. The response activities we engage in can be employed for a H1N1 flu pandemic, hurricanes, or even a terrorist attack. We build up our capabilities and competence by training and exercising regularly. The time for exchanging business cards and getting to know your Federal and state partners should be at training events such as Exercise Tremor, not during an actual event," said Terry Sheehan, Volpe Center staff member and the U.S. DOT's Regional Emergency Transportation Representative for New England, New York and New Jersey.
This proactive preparedness and response exercise provided an opportunity to test protocols and the nation's National Response Framework with all of the New England partners with emergency support roles in the event of an earthquake scenario.
The Volpe Center is FEMA's lead on emergency support related to transportation. Mr. Sheehan leads efforts to assist Federal agencies, State and local governmental entities, and other organizations requiring transportation capacity to perform response missions following a major disaster or emergency. The Volpe Center also serves as a critical coordination point between response operations and restoration of transportation infrastructure.