[NYTr] Miserable Failure: U.S. still unprepared for disasters

[All the News That Doesn't Fit]

Reuters - Dec 18, 2007
http://www.reuters.com/article/domesticNews/idUSN1851291820071218?feedType=RSS&feedName=domesticNews

U.S. still unprepared for disaster: report

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The United States remains unprepared for
disasters ranging from biological attacks to a flu pandemic, and
funding for preparedness is falling, according to a report released on
Tuesday.

Many states still lack a stockpile of drugs, masks, gloves and other
equipment needed to battle a pandemic of diseases, despite five years
of constant and detailed warning, the Trust for America's Health said
in its report.

"Overall, federal funding for state and local preparedness will have
declined by 25 percent in 3 years if the president's FY (fiscal year)
2008 request is approved," the report reads.

"Until all states measure up, the United States is not safe."

The nonprofit Trust has been issuing reports every year for five years,
and said the 2001 anthrax attacks, in which five people died when
anthrax spores were mailed to several offices, should have been a
wake-up call.

The disasters caused by hurricanes Katrina and Rita that wrecked the
U.S. Gulf Coast in 2005 should have galvanized more action and
highlighted a variety of problems with U.S. disaster preparedness, the
group said.

But the report released on Tuesday still finds preparedness is spotty.

"Thirteen states do not have adequate plans to distribute emergency
vaccines, antidotes, and medical supplies from the Strategic National
Stockpile," the report reads.

"Twenty-one states do not have statutes that allow for adequate
liability protection for healthcare volunteers during emergencies.
Twelve states do not have a disease surveillance system compatible with
the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention's National Electronic
Disease Surveillance System," it added.

"Seven states have not purchased any portion of their federally
subsidized or unsubsidized antivirals to use during a pandemic flu.
Seven states and (Washington) D.C. lack sufficient capabilities to test
for biological threats."

Health experts agree that a pandemic of some sort of disease is overdue
and believe the H5N1 avian influenza circulating in Europe, Asia and
Africa is the most immediate threat.

World Health Organization experts are now investigating a cluster of
human H5N1 cases in Pakistan where it is possible there has been human
to human transmission of the virus, usually passed rarely from birds to
people. It has infected 340 people and killed 209 globally since 2003.

The National Association of County and City Health Officials said
people should understand that local officials are trying to prepare
when they can but said it shared concerns that federal funding was not
being kept up.

"Diseases recognize neither state nor local boundaries and every link
in the local, state and federal chain of protection must be strong,"
the group said in a statement.

(Reporting by Maggie Fox; Editing by David Wiessler)