# 2069
Perhaps the hardest reality about pandemics for most people to accept is that each community may be truly on their own. In far too many pandemic plans the assumption is made that the police, or the military, or relief agencies will be on hand to lend support.
And that may simply be wishful thinking.
While this report comes from the UK, much the same should be assumed by citizens around the world.
Militaries, relief agencies, and police are going to be crippled by any severe pandemic themselves. What little aid they may be able to provide is likely to be spread extremely thinly across a very wide landscape.
From The Times
June 14, 2008
Armed Forces could not help civilians in flu pandemic
Michael Evans
The Armed Forces would struggle to cope if the country was hit by a pandemic flu, with more than 50 per cent of military personnel laid low, an internal Ministry of Defence document indicates.
The Royal Navy, Army and RAF would be so badly hit in the “worst-case scenario” because of their close working environment, particularly on warships, that no military personnel would be available to help the civil authorities, the study says.
“The priority ... will be maintaining critical military operations with little or no spare resource to provide military assistance to the civil authorities,” says the internal MoD document, which is in the form of a guide for defence personnel.
Obviously, this isn't just a problem in the UK.
Last April, Lt. Joseph McClellan of the Alabama DHS here in the United States had these comments to make about the availability of outside help in a pandemic.
Lt. Joseph McClellan of the Alabama Department of Homeland Security said that law enforcement agencies and other first responders have to prepare to lose about half their work force because they will either be sick or caring for dying relatives.
<snip>
Security will need to be provided for mass burial sites, hospitals and pharmacies as fear and chaos could take hold of the community, McClellan said. Officers will have to reprioritize their calls; burglaries and robberies may not be on the top of the list.
While looking over various agencies' plans, McClellan said he's found that too many call for support from Alabama State Troopers.
There aren't enough state troopers to fill those spots," he said. Those plans need to be changed, he said.
Like it or not, communities are going to have to learn to handle much of the load during a pandemic, and they cannot rely on outside intervention.
As Secretary of Health and Human Services, Michael Leavitt, has said many times :
Local preparedness is the foundation of pandemic readiness. Leadership must come from governors, mayors, country commissioners, pastors, school principals, corporate planners, the entire medical community, individuals, and families.
Any community that fails to prepare-with the expectation that the federal government can or will offer a lifeline-will be tragically wrong. - Michael Leavitt Jan 24th 2006
Perhaps if we repeat that mantra often enough, it will finally sink in.
