Kentucky Emergency Management
NATIONAL LEVEL EXERCISE 2011-KENTUCKY PREPARES FOR A MAJOR EARTHQUAKE

FRANKFORT, Ky. (May 13, 2011) - On Monday, May 16, 2011, Kentucky and several
Central U.S. states, along with federal government agencies, volunteer
organizations and the private sector will begin a weeklong preparedness
exercise based upon a catastrophic earthquake in the New Madrid Earthquake
Zone, which is located in the heart of the United States.

The National Level Exercise 2011 (NLE 11) is part of the National Exercise
Program (NEP).  The NEP provides the opportunity to practice existing
capabilities to prevent, prepare for, respond to, and recover from major
disasters, man-made or natural, and other emergencies in an integrated
fashion. Participation includes  Federal to the State agencies, military,
local governments, private sector, volunteer organizations, private citizens
and the President of the United States.

NLE 11 exercise will practice initial incident response and recovery
capabilities, and test and validate existing plans, policies and procedures,
including the Federal Interagency Response Plan - Earthquake (FIRP-EQ 2011)
and State and regional New Madrid catastrophic plans. 

"Is Kentucky ready for a 7.7 earthquake? No. Are we more prepared than we
once were?  Absolutely,"said John Heltzel, director for Kentucky Emergency Management (KYEM).  "We
learn something with each event or disaster, such as the historic flooding
Kentucky just experienced.  The trick is to take lessons learned and turn
them into lessons applied. This is the overarching objective of this
signature exercise."

While the exercise is designed to assess response and recovery capabili¬ties
both nationally and regionally, Kentucky will use the exercise to update and
rewrite the Commonwealth Earthquake Response Plan.

The NLE 2011 is expected to be the largest joint exercise in United States'
history, and for the first time it is being based on a natural threat.
Everyone from private citizens, businesses, military, all private sectors and
centers of government are invited to participate and exercise their own
earthquake preparations.

The NLE 2011 will include activities with local responders, federal and state
emergency management officials, private sector partners at multiple venues
around the region, as well as in Washington D.C. and various FEMA regional
offices.  Private citizens who complete daily participation will be sent a
link to a downloadable KYEM NLE 2011 Certificate of Participation recognizing
their individual efforts to better protect and prepare themselves and family
in the event of a catastrophic disaster.

For more information on the NLE 2011, scheduled daily participation links and
to register as a participant, visit www.kyem.ky.gov/nle2011
<http://www.kyem.ky.gov/nle2011> .  You will also find external information,
related social media sites and links to Kentucky's Earthquake Preparedness
Program.

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