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West Tennessee is situated over a hotbed of geologic activity as part of the New Madrid seismic zone, which translates to perpetual rumblings under the earth and tremors at the surface. Known also as the Reelfoot Rift, the New Madrid fault line is a major seismic zone in the Southern and Midwestern United States and was responsible for the infamous 1812 earthquake near New Madrid, Missouri which produced a 7.9 magnitude quake, causing a portion of the Mississippi River to run backwards and creating Reelfoot Lake. In fact, this zone had four of the largest North American earthquakes in recorded history during a three month period in 1811 and 1812 with magnitudes estimated to be greater than 7.0 on the Richter scale.

The biggest threat to Memphis and many cities within the New Madrid zone is a major earthquake. For this reason the Tennessee Emergency Management Agency (TEMA) along with participating efforts in Illinois, Kentucky and Missouri are participating in “Vigilant Guard 08” this month, a disaster scenario hosted by the National Guard to determine preparedness in the communication interchange of state and local responders in the event of a massive quake.

The exercises, taking place April 19-23, will be in response to a simulated 7.6 Richter magnitude scale earthquake along the New Madrid fault line. If such a scenario occurs, not much would be left standing in Memphis, which is why these exercises will demonstrate the capabilities of inbound resources of the Tennessee National Guard Joint Force Headquarters, the Joint Task Force-Tennessee, and TEMA and their ability to assist local responders under the Emergency Management Assistance Compact (EMAC). EMAC is the process where Governors reach out to other governors for additional assistance in emergency situations.

According to information from the Center for Earthquake Research and Information at the University of Memphis, the New Madrid fault system has the potential to produce damaging earthquakes every 300 to 500 years. Since 1812, frequent smaller earthquakes continue to be recorded in the zone.

In order to determine how this area would be able to coordinate assistance from outside help, “we need to practice the interface with inbound resources,” explained exercise officer for the Memphis and Shelby County Emergency Management Agency, Sammy Crews. “We have to look at the scenario and position ourselves locally to be able to receive those responders.”

The Shelby County EMA, fire department and sheriff’s office; the Memphis fire and police departments; and the Millington fire and police departments are players in this multi-county exercise.

Most of the exercises will occur in the northern part of Shelby County, particularly at the Millington Naval Air Station where the Joint Task Force will simulate a response to a collapsed hospital, as well as coordinate the simulation of air lifting injured patients on a C-130 to Knoxville. An expeditionary medical team in Millington will act as a mobile hospital with surgical suites and beds. Methodist North will receive the majority of moulage, or mock, patients while the Regional Medical Center at Memphis and several other emergency departments will receive ancillary moulage.

As explained on the National Guard Web site, each Civil Support Team (CST) from the participating states includes 22 full-time Army and Air National Guard personnel divided into six sections: command, operations, communications, administration/logistics, medical, and survey. The CST’s are equipped with a command vehicle, operations trailer, a unified command suite which provides satellite and other communications, an analytical laboratory system with hazard analysis equipment, and other general purpose vehicles.

“It’s an opportunity to see things from a different perspective,” said Crews. “The scenario has been painted in such a way to give the National Guard more access (to local responders).

In such a cataclysmic event, Shelby County will have, “far fewer response personnel management of our area,” he added. “Our local personnel need to have that interaction to maintain an element of communication and control to give the National Guard the best information. And who better to gather disaster intelligence information on Shelby County than the local responders?”

The biggest challenge, explained Lieutenant Heidi Jackson with the Tennessee National Guard, will be the flow of information between all the agencies.

“We want to make sure we exercise the EMAC process to identify any unforeseen problems or redundancies,” she said. “We want to know how to make the communication better to work together. We have come a long way, communication-wise since Katrina and this exercise is designed to present challenges to both the National Guard and local emergency agencies.”

For more information visit www.tnmilitary.org



April 2008

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