Department of Public Safety

Each year a National Level Exercise (NLE) is scheduled for emergency officials to prepare and coordinate a multiple-jurisdictional integrated response to a catastrophic event. NLE 2011, which took place from May 16 - 19, simulated the catastrophic nature of a major earthquake in the central United States region of the New Madrid Seismic Zone (NMSZ). The year 2011 is the bicentennial anniversary of the 1811 New Madrid earthquake, for which the NMSZ is named. NLE 2011 was the first NLE to simulate a natural hazard.

The exercise was designed to validate the following capabilities: 

• Communications
• Critical resource logistics and distribution
• Mass care (sheltering, feeding and related services)
• Medical surge
• Citizen evacuation and shelter-in-place
• Emergency public information and warning
• Emergency operations center (EOC) management
• Long-term recovery

In St. Louis, emergency management personnel gathered with representatives from the St. Louis Metropolitan Police Department, St. Louis Fire Department and several operating departments for a table top exercise that tested the City's plans in a real-time, realistic environment. Lessons learned from the exercise provided valuable insights for future planning for disasters and other emergencies.