Arkansas Agencies Take Part In Bioterrorism Drill

Arkansas officials are finding out how prepared the state is for a major emergency.

Planners from federal, state, and local agencies, along with hospitals rehearsed on Tuesday for what they would do in the event of an actual terrorist attack involving anthrax.

Don C. Morrow is a senior research analyst with the Arkansas Department of Health. He explains the exercise this way, "There are some medications that we need to distribute to the hospitals across the state and so, we're utilizing several of our partners here in the state to make that distribution. This is a test of a system that obviously we hope we never have to use," he says, "we want to make sure that the folks in the local communities know how to request the meds and supplies they need through the proper channels."

Morrow says the practice is also good in case there is ever an earthquake along the New Madrid fault, or if Arkansas experiences a major flu outbreak.

The Arkansas Department of Emergency Management, the Arkansas National Guard, and the Arkansas State Police were some of the agencies involved in the bioterrorism exercise.