Maryland has deployed a medical strike team to Louisiana to help steel for Hurricane Gustav and Virginia is prepared to send assistance if help is needed.
“Because natural disasters are not contained by geographic boundary, neither therefore should our ability to respond to them,” said Maryland Governor Martin O’Malley. “While we don’t yet know the potential impact of this storm, it is nonetheless our responsibility to answer the call for assistance from our friends along the Gulf Coast, as we did in the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina and will continue to do.”
The hurricane was on track to hit the Gulf Coast early this week after ravaging the Caribbean.
Maryland dispatched five live support ambulances and six support vehicles staffed by 26 individuals early Saturday morning.
Louisiana requested strike teams on Thursday through the Emergency Management Assistance Compact, a mutual aid agreement that provides for assistance across state lines during disasters.
Virginia Gov. Tim Kaine activated the EMAC in the Commonwealth on Friday.
“We are working with the Gulf States now to determine how we can help them and what resources we can send,” he said. “Other states helped us respond to Hurricane Isabel, and Virginia stands ready to assist those in the path of this storm.”
Laura Southard, a spokesperson for the Virginia Department of Emergency Management, said that as of Saturday, she was not aware of any teams or services having been dispatched from the state.
“We have worked to identify who could go and the type of work to be done,” she said. “We’re on standby, and we’re ready to go.”
Both Southard and Maryland Emergency Management Agency Director Richard Muth said that with Hurricane Hanna projected to hit the east coast later this week, the states need to judicially choose the number of resources to send.
“Because Hurricane Hanna is a potential threat to the East Coast of the United States later next week, we were careful not to over-commit our resources,” said Muth. “But it is important that the states work together whenever a part of the country is threatened with a major storm.”
