As I write, we are about a month out from the devastating earthquake and tsunami that struck Japan.  We’ve all been witness to a tragic loss of life and the devastation of entire communities. Radiation leakage from the damaged nuclear facilities has not yet been contained, so at this point it’s impossible to predict what the ultimate impact from that will be. This was a nation that was lauded for its emergency planning efforts. Yet it would appear they fell short in some respects by not anticipating the scale and magnitude of potential disasters in their planning. What we know for certain is that this disaster would have been even worse had they not planned in advance.

In conversations with friends and the public, I am often reminded that most good citizens have no idea of the emergency planning efforts going on daily in their behalf. Planning activities cover the full breadth of life’s hazards and threats from the familiar, such as severe weather, to the extremes, such as terrorism. For instance, do you know that there are professional emergency managers working with every county in Michigan? Similarly, few know of the critical infrastructure assessments that are presently occurring in our communities. Data from these projects will be used to “harden” our most essential institutions so that should a natural or man-made disaster occur, damage will be lessened and recovery time shortened.

Schools, hospitals, municipalities, state agencies, airports and many others plan, train and exercise regularly with the assistance and guidance of local emergency planning professionals. These activities, and the lessons learned from them, help to ensure that should a catastrophic event occur, our institutions will be better prepared to protect the lives within and recover quickly, so they can resume their essential role and responsibilities in the community.

In earlier years our planning focused on smaller, more localized events—a collection of households, a few neighboring businesses. But events such as Hurricane Katrina and the earthquake in Japan remind us that some disasters occur on a far larger scale. Large events that transcend community boundaries have been a major thrust of emergency planning in recent years. One such example is under way now in the form of National Level Exercise 2011 (NLE 2011). Conducted annually, each NLE is designed to test major components of the National Response Framework—the guide for how our nation conducts incident management.

NLE 2011 will simulate (coincidentally) a major, catastrophic earthquake in the central United States region of the New Madrid Seismic Zone (NMSZ). National level exercises are hugely complex events. This one will involve command posts; emergency operation centers; federal facilities in the Washington, D.C. area and federal, regional, state, tribal and local public and private sector organizations in eight states.

NLE 2011 is an example of the good work going on in the background to better protect the citizens of the United States. Will these efforts ensure that we will be perfectly prepared and totally resilient from these events? No, of course not. But they do ensure that we will respond more efficiently and better coordinate the use of scarce resources when the next “big one” strikes. We know with certainty that there will be fewer deaths and less destruction than had we not planned. In the months and years to come we will glean important lessons from the pain and anguish now occurring in Japan. These lessons will be applied to emergency plans in every corner of America.

There is little we can do to eliminate the destructive power of Mother Nature or a few deranged individuals. But be aware that emergency planners in your community are working tirelessly to mitigate the consequences of the torment they bring. Hug an emergency planner today!  These quiet professionals are your first and best line of defense against the destructive surprises of life.

More about NLE 2011 go to: www.ready.gov/nle2011

		Joe DeFors, BS, MPA is a cofounder and principal officer of Comprehensive Emergency Management Associates (CEMA). CEMA is an East Lansing-based, full-service emergency planning, training and disaster exercise firm serving families, businesses and communities.