About 130 Commissioned Corps of the U.S. Public Health Service (Corps) officers participated in the National Level Exercise (NLE) 2011 while staying in a dome tent downtown Paducah, Kentucky reports the Western Kentucky Star newspaper.

The week of May 16, 2011, federal to state agencies, military, local governments, private sector, volunteer organizations and private citizens conducted a weeklong preparedness exercise based upon a catastrophic earthquake in the New Madrid Earthquake Zone. The goal of the exercise was to review, practice and improve plans set in place to prevent, prepare for, respond to and recover from major disasters.

The exercise allowed grassroots level officials to work with the federal government in the preparedness planning process. The teams’ training exercises and information collected benefits the communities in being more prepared. The teams met with city and county governments, businesses and other agencies to determine the region’s preparedness and planning.

With the recent flooding, the teams were able to see first-hand the region’s response and could carry over lessons to another major event such as a significant earthquake in the New Madrid Earthquake Zone.”

The newspaper noted that the Corps’ force of approximately 6,500 public health professionals dedicated to delivering the Nation's public health promotion and disease prevention programs and advancing public health science.

Visit the Kentucky Office of Emergency Management for more information on the NLE 2011.