Published: August 16, 2008
Proposal Bolsters Disaster Response Capabilities Between US, Mexico


SACRAMENTO - In the immediate minutes following a major earthquake, flood or other emergency along our international border, the availability of an adequate number of first responders and their ability to coordinate with one another can be critical to the fate of victims living in both the United States and Mexico.

"Immediately getting the closest resources to a disaster can mean the difference between life and death," said Henry Renteria, Director of the California Governor's Office of Emergency Services.

A Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) between Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger and his colleagues from Arizona, New Mexico, Texas and the six bordering states in Mexico (Baja California, Chihuahua, Coahuila, Nuevo Leon, Sonora, and Tamaulipas) will be proposed during the XXVI Annual Border Governors Conference at Universal Studios Hollywood. The MOU, which was developed by a special Emergency and Civil Protection Sub Worktable, will promote an expeditious formalization to provide cross-border preparedness and response for all types of natural and manmade disasters.

"Even though we have a very robust mutual aid system in California, the unprecedented number of wildfires in Northern California recently showed that even our local, state and federal resources can be quickly exhausted," said Renteria, who is currently a member of the Sub Worktable.

"During the height of the recent fires, we were fortunate to have firefighters from as far away as Australia and New Zealand assisting Californians," said Renteria. At the conference's opening ceremony yesterday, Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger noted Mexico's President Felipe Calderon's offer to assist California during the peak of the recent wildfires. "He offered us airplanes, helicopters, manpower, engines, anything we needed. It really touched me." said Schwarzenegger. This MOU between the ten U.S. and Mexico border states could save lives by increasing the number of available resources the next time a major disaster hits.
Since 2000, presidents of the United States have declared 16 major disasters that involved at least one county along the U.S. - Mexico border.

"Five of those involved at least one California county,"Â