The Marion County Health Department on Thursday coordinated a county-wide table top drill to get better prepared for a large emergency.
The health department’s Emergency Preparedness Coordinator Bill Thouvenin says the drills are a good way to get the thought processes going.
“Anytime we can bring different agencies together including elected and appointed officials and discuss possible scenario and work through it like a real event allows us to work together, express ideas and share information. Gets us a chance to do it under non-emergency circumstances.”
Thouvenin was pleased by the attendance that included representatives from Salem and Centralia, Midland Area Agency on Aging, Marion County Health Department, Centralia Manor, SSM Health St. Mary’s Hospital, Illinois Emergency Services Region Five, and the Illinois Law Enforcement Alarm System program that coordinates response to major incidents.
He says the scenario used was an earthquake which would present some added problems.
“Communication is always a huge concern with almost every exercise or event that occurs. If you lose normal communications like telephones and computers that we rely on everyday you have to turn to things like the StarCom radios that many of us have and possibly even Ham Radio operators.”
Thouvenin says since the region is located between the New Madrid and Wabash fault zones they need to be prepared.
Salem Mayor Nic Farley was among the large delegation of Salem city officials in attendance. He felt it was a great exercise especially in light of the recent tornado that hit the south side of Salem.
Farley says the City of Salem is doing their own review of the city’s emergency preparedness plan.
“We are looking at our emergency planning and getting together looking at each area for holes and what we can fix. Especially with oncoming traffic we are going to see with the eclipse in 2024, we want to make sure we are prepared for any event we may need extra resources for.”
Farley expects a large amount of traffic to flow through the city as a result of those traveling to see the eclipse. He fears the problems will be compounded by construction work that will still be underway on I-57.
