Federal officials prepare for aftermath of nuclear attack.[ILLUSTRATION OMITTED] * Although the chances of a nuclear attack remain slim, the effects would be colossal, witnesses at a Senate hearing said. "We can expect hundreds of thousands of casualties," said Paul McHale, assistant secretary of defense for homeland defense and America's security affairs. In addition, there would be 100,000 victims sheltering in safe areas, 250,000 sheltering in place to avoid the plume, and contamination of up to 3,000 square miles A square mil is a unit of area, equal to the area of a square with sides of length one mil. A mil is one thousandth of an international inch. This unit of area is usually used in specifying the area of the cross section of a wire or cable. from the site of the explosion, he added. The initial blast would involve injuries from radiation, burns and broken glass. "Failure to develop and test a comprehensive plan for dealing with the aftermath would magnify mag·ni·fy v. To increase the apparent size of, especially with a lens. its impact," said Sen. Joe Lieberman Joseph Isadore "Joe" Lieberman (born February 24, 1942) is an American politician from Connecticut. Lieberman was first elected to the United States Senate in 1988, and was elected to his fourth term on November 7, 2006. In the 2000 U.S. , I-Conn., chairman of Homeland Security Noun 1. Homeland Security - the federal department that administers all matters relating to homeland security Department of Homeland Security executive department - a federal department in the executive branch of the government of the United States and Government Affairs Committee. The committee has held five hearings examining the government's preparedness in response to a nuclear attack. However, when developing an initial response plan, officials should assume that federal support wouldn't arrive at the scene for as long as 48 hours, said James Schwartz, chief of the Arlington County, Va., Fire Department. Local governments must be prepared to work on their own for up to 72 hours, he said. "In order to achieve the level of coordination needed to carry out an effective response, the command structure must be respected by responders at all levels of the government," Schwartz said. Other functions of responders at the scene of destruction would include applying medical resources, informing public of actions to take and requesting additional assistance. Federal Emergency Management Agency The Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) is the federal agency responsible for coordinating emergency planning, preparedness, risk reduction, response, and recovery. The agency works closely with state and local governments by funding emergency programs and providing technical Administrator R. David Paulison Robert David Paulison (b. 1947) was a firefighter who is currently serving as the head of the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA). Paulison was appointed by President George W. Bush on September 12, 2005 to replace the embattled Michael D. said the agency is participating in a multi-part project that includes developing a communications strategy for informing the public, modeling the effects of a nuclear explosion in a large city and assessing whether strategic stockpiles of critical medical supplies are adequate to respond to such an attack. "Such an attack would present a scale and complexity of destruction that could immediately challenge or overwhelm o·ver·whelm tr.v. o·ver·whelmed, o·ver·whelm·ing, o·ver·whelms 1. To surge over and submerge; engulf: waves overwhelming the rocky shoreline. 2. a. the capabilities of state and local resources," Paulison said. |
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