Fewer Americans prepared for terror attack

WASHINGTON – The percentage of Americans who have created an emergency plan for a terrorist attack has dropped in the last year, along with the proportion of Americans who believe terrorists may strike near their home or workplace, according to two new studies released Tuesday.

Civil preparedness experts said these findings and others are going in precisely the wrong direction, with U.S. authorities warning that al Qaeda is determined to strike the United States this summer or fall. The marketing information was released at a conference Tuesday at George Washington University.

“We need to narrow the universe of the unprepared of those we need to worry about in a catastrophic situation, and it is not going to be easy,” Red Cross President Marsha Evans said in a speech Tuesday outlining her group’s survey on emergency preparedness. “Every one of those unprepared Americans is a potential barrier to the effectiveness of our response to any disaster.”

The Red Cross survey, conducted last month by Wirthlin Worldwide, found that the percentage of Americans who have created a family emergency plan on where to meet after a terror strike has dropped from 40 percent in August 2003 to 32 percent today.

The percentage of people who expressed concern that terrorists might strike near their home or workplace has declined more dramatically, from 71 percent immediately after the Sept. 11, 2001 attacks to about half today, according to a separate poll also released Tuesday by the nonprofit Council for Excellence in Government.

Preparedness specialists believe that the number of people readying themselves for the aftermath of a terrorist attack has dropped as time has passed since the Sept. 11 strike without another attack on the United States.

Evans said the Red Cross survey found that unprepared Americans fall into five categories: “head scratchers” who don’t know where to find preparedness advice; “head in the sand” types who believe preparation is unimportant; “head in the clouds” people who mistakenly believe they are ready; the “headset crowd” that is too busy and can’t find time to do it; and people who “simply haven’t thought about preparedness.”

U.S. officials and counterterrorism specialists say encouraging Americans to stockpile supplies for an attack, prepare themselves emotionally and take action to ready their families is vital to both self-protection and bouncing back from any strike that does occur.

The Red Cross poll also found that the percentage of people who had assembled home emergency kits remained stable between 2003 and this year, at 42 percent. But only one in 10 families have taken all three steps considered crucial for preparation: creating emergency kits and family plans for reuniting after a disaster, as well as getting training in first aid, the Red Cross study said.

The Homeland Security Department stumbled in its first attempt at a civil preparedness campaign in February 2003, when they recommended that Americans purchase duct tape and plastic sheeting to protect their homes against chemical attack. The agency drew the ridicule of late night comedians and public confusion. Nine days later the department announced a more thought-out “Ready Campaign” using radio ads to urge citizen preparedness.