The Federal Communication Commission’s Public Safety and Homeland Security Bureau will hold a forum May 3 to examine the nation’s communications preparedness in the event of a devastating earthquake.
The forum, to be held at commission headquarters in Washington, D.C., will address preparations that should be made before an earthquake and approaches to instituting national communications policies and emergency procedures to respond to the impact of an earthquake on communications infrastructure.
Masaru Fujino, Counselor, Embassy of Japan in the United States, will address the forum. On March 11, Japan was struck by a 9.0 magnitude earthquake off its northeast coast. The quake generated a massive tsunami that swept away vehicles, homes, boats and buildings.
The forum, which is open to the public, will include two panels. One panel will examine the possible impact of a large earthquake in various vulnerable regions of the United States and appropriate measures to prepare the communications sector to respond.
The second panel will discuss development of national communications policies and emergency procedures to respond to the effect of a disaster on the nation’s infrastructure. Among the topics to be discussed will be the use of federal assets and the ability of individual sectors within the communications industry to recover from damage and loss of facilities.
The forum is scheduled to last from 9 a.m. to 1 p.m.
