Emergency Preparedness

As floodwaters slowly receded from much of Iowa on Wednesday, authorities focused their attention on a swollen Mississippi River that punched through at least two levees in western Illinois and increasingly threatened hamlets in Missouri. Federal officials said as many as 30 levees were in peril, mostly in rural stretches of northern Missouri and western Illinois. No large population centers were threatened. "The concern now is the Mississippi River between the Quad Cities and St.

After the great floods of 1993 swamped this tiny town in eastern Iowa, Mike Luck begged the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers to help protect it from future disasters. Corps officials responded that this community of fewer than 700 residents probably would have to chip in more than $1 million to help build the federally engineered levee system it sought, the former mayor recalled.

A major effort to seismically retrofit hospitals has been repeatedly pushed back in recent years over concerns about costs. A campaign in Los Angeles to create a list of concrete buildings that would be vulnerable to major shaking faltered. An effort to better track high-risk buildings in San Francisco also stalled. "Any time you don't have an earthquake for a long time, peoples' concerns go elsewhere," said Kate Hutton, a staff seismologist at Caltech.

When the Chino Hills earthquake hit July 29, Heidi Gallegos was having lunch with an associate in nearby Diamond Bar. "Once the jolt hit, we were, like, frozen and watching the doors, thinking 'Do we stay or do we go?' " said Gallegos, chief executive of the Regional Chamber of Commerce -- San Gabriel Valley. A mile south on Diamond Bar Boulevard, diners at the Whole Enchilada were "in shock," General Manager Sandy Ball said.

Local emergency responders are offering disaster preparation training priced just right for small-business owners: It costs little or nothing. They hope the lifesaving skills they teach will help more people cope with a major disaster when help from police, fire or medical personnel may be unavailable for hours or days. "If you can be prepared, then when disaster hits you are not going to be a victim, you are going to be part of the solution," said Capt.

Although flames had chewed through the power lines that serve the Olive View-UCLA Medical Center, staff members thought that they would be fine. The hospital prided itself on its "state-of-the-art" backup systems. But wind-whipped flames and choking smoke brought Olive View to a dark standstill early Saturday as the hospital lost power and its emergency generators failed. "It was total darkness," said hospital spokeswoman Carla Nino. "We had our flashlights. We went into our disaster mode."

As Southern California braced for heavy rainstorms that could bring flooding, Yorba Linda officials said Monday that they plan to use a reverse 911 system to warn residents about potential mudslides this week, even though the network didn't work properly during the recent wildfire. The system called some residents long after the Nov. 15 blaze had swept through their neighborhoods.

The largest earthquake drill in U.S. history, held last month in Southern California, found some serious gaps in local earthquake planning, prompting utility companies, emergency managers and others to rethink their planning for a major temblor. The Great Southern California Shakeout was the first time so many agencies and earthquake officials teamed up to examine what would happen if a huge quake struck the region, in this case a 7.8 magnitude temblor.

Amid reports that poor communication and missed tips might have hampered the search for James Kim and his family in the southern Oregon wilderness, Oregon Gov. Ted Kulongoski has ordered three state agencies to review the search process, and said he would appoint a task force to improve search-and-rescue efforts. A state sheriffs' organization also is conducting a review, as are federal agencies in charge of the land where Kim and his family were lost.

Frustrated with people and politicians who refuse to listen or learn, National Hurricane Center Director Max Mayfield ends his 34-year government career today in search of a new platform for getting out his unwelcome message: Hurricane Katrina was nothing compared with the big one yet to come. Mayfield, 58, leaves his high-profile job with the National Weather Service more convinced than ever that U.S.