While human safety is paramount in disaster response, Hurricane Katrina taught us that unless pets and animals are also considered, people will risk their lives returning to a disaster zone for their animals.

The Multi-Jurisdictional Animal Coordination Exercise (MARCE) 2017 is a Homeland Security Exercise and Evaluation Program (HSEEP) functional exercise testing the disaster response capabilities of state emergency operation centers. This was conducted July 11-14, 2017 and involved 137 participants from 16 states, including Kentucky. The University of Kentucky Extension team (Andrea Higdon, Roberta Dwyer, Melissa Newman, Kandice Williams) were the key planners of the project. A dozen experts from national emergency management, state and national governmental agencies, and animal resource organizations were tapped for expertise in designing the exercise. The program included two pre-exercise workshops training state animal and agriculture disaster personnel how to request resources from other states, non-governmental organizations, and the federal government. State personnel were taught how to develop mission ready packages (MRPs) that could be deployed when needed, thereby shortening the time for effective disaster response. Being trained and familiar with the logistics of requesting resources from different agencies is critical to a rapid response in a real disaster. The targeted animal populations in the disaster exercise were pets and service animals, livestock including horses, research animals, and captive wildlife (e.g., zoo and exhibition animals).

Participants were highly complementary of the MARCE exercise since each state was able to respond to a mock disaster within their state (requiring requesting resources) and on a separate day, assist by offering resources to a state in need. Additionally, states could determine how they would respond to temporary veterinary licensing requests; waiving certificates of veterinary inspection for animals being transported across state lines in emergency situations; and other logistical factors typical in disasters.

The very issues addressed during the MARCE exercise were tested in the real world by the ensuing hurricanes (Harvey, Irma, and Maria) and wildfires that engulfed major parts of the US during the rest of 2017.

I was part of the core planning team; co-authored exercise materials including the Controller/Evaluator Handbook and Exercise Evaluation Guidelines; and was lead evaluator during the four exercise days.