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United States News Title: Disaster drill preps Los Angeles for the inevitable Helicopters swooped in and unloaded cops to quell angry crowds -- with batons that never made contact and rubber bullets that were only props in a disaster response drill. Federal military and Southern California law enforcement teamed up for an elaborate simulation of a disaster response system that authorities hope would avoid the horrors following Hurricane Katrina last August. US Marines and navy medics joined Los Angeles police, sheriffs and fire departments, making this one of the first large-scale inter-agency, federal and local training exercises to date. The three-day drill took place on Los Alamitos Joint Forces Training Base between Orange and Los Angeles Counties, home to 13 million people. "We all can practice as a team before the big event," said Department of Homeland Security spokesman, Pete Verga. "We all were quite dismayed at the relief efforts in response to Katrina, and we know that Southern California has a high potential of both man-made and natural disaster." Thursday's "big event" was a catastrophic, 8.0 magnitude earthquake that cut area highways and crippled the city, leaving countless scores stranded, hungry and unruly. Electricity, natural gas and water lines were all assumed inoperable. A seismologist at the University of California at San Diego, Yuri Fialko, recently published a study arguing that the southern portion of the San Andreas fault, running under Los Angeles, will soon end its long period of dormancy. In short, it is a question of when, not if the Big One will strike. "This is exactly what we should be preparing for," said Los Angeles County Sheriff, Lee Baca. "Furthermore, every family should be prepared with food and water for at least three days in the event of any disaster." Thursday's drill takes place presumably two days after a catastrophic earthquake, which caught most people unprepared. One hundred Marines in civilian clothes played an angry mob desperately in need of basic resources. Gathering in the streets of the mock urban environment, the "mob" shouted for food and water and taunted a column of stoic uniformed Marines while two helicopters circled overhead. "We've got to make sure Katrina doesn't happen again," said gunnery Sergeant Matthew Olivolo of the US Marine Corps. Behind him, the "mob" hurled plastic water bottles at the approaching SWAT team. "In the end we're all going to work together and make sure that everyone's OK," said Olivolo. "Interoperability" was the buzzword for the day. Authorities said exercises like this facilitate communication between local, regional and federal authorities. In the run-through, a communications system developed by Northrop Grumman hooked up a NASA WB-57 high-altitude airplane with the Internet to send images, video, voice and messages between agencies. "The ability of disparate military, federal and local agencies to communicate has often been the weakest link of disaster response," said Mike Twyman, Vice President of Northrop Grumman Mission Systems. This new airborne node aims to provide communication with no ground infrastructure during a disaster. Still, those on the ground must work together. After the crowd control exercise, Los Angeles firefighters and naval medics performed search-and-rescue operations and triaged the "wounded". Front doors were battered down or hacked to bits with chainsaws. Earthquake "victims" -- with artificial blood and protruding bones -- were rushed to waiting navy vehicles. "I think this one needs morphine," shouted a navy medic as a victim moaned in pain from what appeared to be a severed leg. Military chaplains were even on hand. "I'm here to spend time with people expected to die," said Commander David Rodriguez, a navy chaplain who had just returned from duty in Iraq. Airlifts using C-130 helicopters, the largest in the US military, whisked the wounded to local hospitals. With the anniversary of Hurricane Katrina fast approaching, and a mild earthquake felt in California Wednesday, disaster preparedness is a priority. "California is no stranger to disaster," said Verga. "We don't want to be exchanging business cards on the day of the emergency."
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