FEMA National Level Exercise aims to improve preparedness, readiness for catastrophic events

Government agencies, private organizations, and individuals have been invited to take part in the biannual the Federal Emergency Management Agency’s (FEMA) National Level Exercise being held through May 11 to vet lessons learned during the 2017 hurricane season.

The 2018 National Level Exercise will be based on a scenario in which a hurricane makes landfall in the mid-Atlantic region, causing power outages and significant damage to critical infrastructures like communications, transportation systems, water and wastewater systems, and hospitals.

“The National Level Exercise provides an opportunity for those living in vulnerable areas to participate by understanding their risk and taking action to prepare now,” FEMA Administrator Brock Long said. “Resiliency goes beyond just strengthening infrastructure, it is ensuring that citizens, state, local, tribal and territorial governments have the tools and skill sets necessary to reduce the impact of future disasters.”

The 2018 National Level Exercise aims to support three goals of FEMA’s 2018-2022 Strategic Plan: building a culture of preparedness, increase readiness for potentially catastrophic events, and streamlining and making FEMA less complex.

Maryland, Virginia, Pennsylvania, Delaware, West Virginia, and the District of Columbia are all taking part in the exercise at the state and local levels. FEMA also highlighted the importance of private-sector involvement, noting, “The private sector plays an invaluable role in helping communities respond to and recover from disasters, and this exercise empowers FEMA to work closely with those organizations and strengthen our partnerships for future events.”