As the nation wonders whether officials could have better responded to Hurricane Katrina, Governor Phil Bredesen says the effort of responding to the storm has shown what Tennessee lacks to be ready for a large-scale disaster.
He says he’s worried about what would happen in the event of something like an earthquake on the New Madrid fault.
“I would have thought we could put up a tent city for 20-thousand people if we needed to. We can’t. That’s something that I would like us-we need over time to start thinking seriously about if we really had that, how do we put aside the materials that it takes, the supplies that it takes to respond. We’ll be a lot better at that a year from now than we are today.”
Bredesen says Tennessee is currently ready for any severe weather that is likely to affect the state, but an event displacing tens of thousands would strain the emergency system too far.
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