ensive
basis in disaster, tend to have more highly developed disaster
response plans. Some of them even have rather basic earthquake
response segments included in their basic plans. Thus, for moderate
earthquakes these plans are relatively effective and the Federal
response can be expected to be at least adequate. Few Federal
agencies, however, have developed any specific plan that is adequate
to respond to the demands of a catastrophic event causing property
damage exceeding the $2 billion range. Of 24 Federal agencies whose
earthquake planning status were recently evaluated by FEMA Region IX,
only the Sixth U.S. Army was determined to have developed a
comprehensive capability that is in acceptable detail, has been
exercised, and appears to be operationally adequate and reliable.
Other Federal agencies are now beginning to perceive the need to
improve their planning and response capability following the expected
event, and are gradually responding to this need.

Providing impetus to this expanded planning activity has been the
emergence of the FEMA Region IX Earthquake Response Plan for the San
Francisco Bay Area. This is a site-specific FEMA plan based on a 1974
draft that provided for a full range of Federal assistance during the
emergency lifesaving phase following the earthquake. Although this
plan never proceeded beyond the draft stage (because of evolving FEMA
disaster field operations policy), it served as the basic guide for
the development of the Sixth U.S. Army Plan, and has remained a core
document for identifying expected Federal agency activities for
earthquake recovery in the San Francisco Bay area. In 1979, the
emergency response portion of the 1974 FEMA Region IX draft was
restructured. The conduct of the post-event response program was
shifted from being a centrally directed FEMA activity under the
operational control of the Regional Director to a decentralized
operation which provides for functional disaster support activities to
be assigned by the Regional Director to certain Federal agencies by
Mission Assignment Letters. Table 1 indicates functional task
assignment areas. Those with the designation "Emergency Support
Function (ESF)," have been assigned to other Federal agencies. Table 2
reviews the principal and support agency assignments for each of the
ESF functions.

On the basis of these anticipated mission assignments, the tasked
Federal agencies participated in the development of operation