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NLE11

National Level Exercise NLE 2011 Private Sector Participation

National Level Exercise NLE 2011 will be an operations-based exercise centered on the scenario of a catastrophic earthquake in the New Madrid Seismic Zone, encompassing four FEMA Regions (IV, V, VI and VII) and eight Central U.S. Earthquake States: Alabama, Arkansas, Kentucky, Illinois, Indiana, Mississippi, Missouri and Tennessee. NLE 2011 will exercise initial incident response and recovery capabilities, to test and validate existing plans, policies and procedures to include the New Madrid Catastrophic Plan (currently under development).  NLE 2011 will be conducted in May 2011.

Update:  The NLE 2011 will be conducted on May 16th - 20th, 2011.

Scenario:  On 16 May 2011, the U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) confirmed that a catastrophic earthquake with a magnitude of 7.7 occurred on the southwestern segment of the New Madrid Seismic Zone (NMSZ), with an epicenter at Marked Tree, AR (to the northwest of Memphis, TN).  A second large earthquake with magnitude of 6.0 occurred a short time later on the Wabash Valley Seismic Zone (WVSZ), with an epicenter near Mt. Carmel, IN.

Arkansas Exercise Objectives:  EOC Management - Demonstrate the State's and Counties ability as outlined in jurisdictional plans to effectively manage a catastrophic earthquake event through multi-agency coordination by activating and mobilizing Emergency Support Functions (ESFs), intrastate and interstate mutual aid agreements (MAAs), and Federal aid.

Critical Resource Logistics and Distribution - Demonstrate the State's and Counties ability as outlined in jurisdictional plans to access and establish points of distribution (PODs), State Staging Areas (SSA), Incident Support Base (ISB), and reception centers to receive and distribute critical resource supplies, equipment, and personnel to affected areas throughout the State, including hazardous materials (HazMat) and search and rescue (SAR) resources.

Emergency Public Information and Warning - Demonstrate the capability of the State's and Counties public information officer(s) to coordinate with Federal, State, local, private sector, and nongovernmental agencies for the formulation and dissemination of clear, accurate, and consistent information to the public and media and to establish a Joint Information Center (JIC) to monitor media contacts and conduct press briefings.

Mass Care - Demonstrate the effectiveness of the State's and Counties written plans, policies, and procedures for providing mass care services:  sheltering, staffing, feeding, and bulk distribution for the general and special needs population, service animals, and companion animals throughout the affected area in order to obtain access to medical care, physical assistance, shelter, and other essential services.

Communications - Demonstrate the ability as outlined in jurisdictional plans to access, establish, and maintain a continuous flow of communications among multiple jurisdictions, agencies, governmental officials, and the private sector for the duration of the emergency while utilizing redundant interoperable voice and data communications systems needed to support mission critical lifesaving and sustaining operations.

Citizens Evacuation and Shelter-In-Place - Demonstrate the State's and Counties ability as outlined in jurisdictional plans to ensure affected at-risk populations are safely sheltered-in-place and/or evacuated to safe areas in order to obtain access to medical care, physical assistance, shelter, and other essential needs and safely re-entered into the affected area.


Crawford County Exercise #1:  NIMS Personnel Credentialling
Exercise Coordinator:  Steven Gann                                    Exercise Assistant Coordinator:  Dennis Gilstrap


Recommended NIMS Personnel Credentialing Process

When a request for mutual aid is received, the potential supporting department or agency evaluates its capacity to accommodate the anticipated loss of the resources that would be deployed without compromising mission performance (e.g., can a sheriff's department, emergency medical service, fire department, search and rescue, medical reserve corp, etc., allow 20 percent of its equipment and personnel to be deployed to another jurisdiction for 30 days and still meet its own community’s needs?).

If the potential supporting department or agency determines that it can accommodate the requested deployment of resources, it must next identify specific personnel who will be deployed. The department or agency then submits applications for each member selected for deployment to an authorized accrediting agency identified by the credentialing authority of the State to which the mutual aid will be provided.

The accrediting agency evaluates each application and determines whether the applicant meets the established criteria for the positions required by the mission. Applications that the authorized accrediting agency determines fail to meet established criteria are returned to the submitting department or agency, and may be resubmitted with additional documentation or when the applicant’s qualifications change. 

For applications that are approved by the authorized accrediting agency, the following steps are taken:

  • The applicant’s department or agency is notified.
  • A record is created on the individual in the official credentialing database.
  • An identification card or other credential is issued to the individual. (The identification card or credential should include an expiration date and be reissued as appropriate.)
  • Information on the applicant is uploaded to the incident management infrastructure.


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