FEMA Region 6 and New Mexico Department of Homeland Security

New Mexico Rio Grande Rift Catastrophic Earthquake Response Plan

Summary

New Mexico Rio Grande Rift

Catastrophic Earthquake Response Plan Summary

SITUATION

The Department of Homeland Security (DHS), Federal Emergency Management Agency, Region 6 (FEMA R6) and New Mexico Department of Homeland Security and Emergency Management (NMDHSEM) are engaged in a 12-month joint response planning project.

The project began in November 2014 and is set to conclude in November 2015.
The final deliverable is the New Mexico Rio Grande Rift (RGR) Catastrophic Earthquake Response Plan (or NM RGR plan).
The focus is on addressing theNMDHSEM Secretary’s primary concerns: Interoperability of C4 (Command, Control, Communications, and Computers) and Logistics

─Secretary M. Jay Mitchell expressed his primary concerns during the Information Analysis Brief (IAB) to the Senior Leadership Steering Committee (SLSC) on March 28, 2015.

Intent is to engage Whole Community stakeholders to the maximum extent possible throughout the planning process.

DESIRED END STATE

Enhance New Mexico’s capability to respond to a catastrophic incidentand manage up to a Level 1 (Type 1)disaster
Produce an executable planthat:

─Is clear and succinct in roles, responsibilities, and resources to include deployment timelines and staging locations

─Contains objectives and critical tasks for response operations during the first 72 to 96 hours

─Corresponds with/enhances existing All-Hazards plans to integrate the local, tribal, state, and federal levels for continuity

─Informs New Mexico’s Threats and Hazards Identification and Risk Assessment

BACKGROUND

In April 2012, stakeholders of FEMA Region 6 and the NMDHSEMmet to discuss All Hazards planning. As a result of the discussion, NMDHSEM specifically requested planning support to address the New Mexico’s earthquake hazard associated with the numerous active faults of the RGR; FEMA Region 6 coordinated with FEMA Headquarters to request for support for the state-requested deliberate planning initiative—which was approved for Fiscal Year (FY) 2015.

Although the NM RGR plan was originally proposed as a joint planning initiative, it is presently being developed primarily for the Federal Interagency while incorporating critical findings and recommendations for ‘atypical’ solutions to help enhance New Mexico’s Emergency Operations Plan (EOP) and NMDHSEM’s ability to execute it and the Catastrophic Incident Appendix. Specifically, the focus of this planning initiative will be on certain response enabling and survivor needs enabling core capabilities and associated Emergency Support Functions (ESF) that align with NMDHSEM Secretary’s primary concerns (C4 and Logistics):

NOTE: Many of the core capabilities are interdependent and ESFs support multiple core capabilities simultaneously in application.

Thus far, Sandia National Laboratory has confirmed they will be conducting an earthquake exercise this year and the NM RGR plan scenario was provided by FEMA Region 6 to support that effort. In addition, FEMA Region 6 received confirmation the New Mexico National Guard will be using the scenario for Vigilant Guard (VG) 2017 as part of their overall Full-Scale Exercise (FSE).

KEY MEETINGS

December 4/9, 2014: Met with FEMA R6 internal stakeholders from all Divisions and Program Areas to discuss the NM RGR planning strategy and key considerations.
January 21/22, 2015: Met with NMDHSEM to ‘kick-off’ NM RGR planning initiative; agreed to an Albuquerque earthquake scenario based on the advice of subject matter expert (SME) and geologist, David W. Love, Ph.D., of New Mexico Institute of Mining and Technology (NM Tech). Also, met with SMEs from NM Tech, University of New Mexico (UNM), etc. to affirm initial FEMA Hazus findings; provided second scientific study on the area’s liquefaction susceptibility.
February 2-4, 2015: Participated in NMDHSEM-hosted Interstate Emergency Response Support Plan (IERSP) meeting to provide an overview of the NM RGR plan scenario and to solicit recommendations from fellow FEMA R6 state partners on resources available through Mission Ready Packages (MRP).
March 23, 2015: Facilitated a NMDHSEM-hosted Local Emergency Management Workshop to provide an overview of the NM RGR plan scenario and to help validate areas of concern with city, county, and tribal responders and other stakeholders representing the Whole Community.
March 31, 2015: Met with FEMA R6 Incident Management Assistance Team (IMAT) to provide an overview of the NM RGR plan scenario and to request for support in developing the Concept of Operations (CONOPS).
April 23, 2015: Met with NM Federal Executive Board (NM FEB) to provide an overview of the NM RGR plan scenario, key considerations for Continuity of Operations (COOP), devolution, and overall Continuity of Government (COG) and to discuss the Way Forward in preparation for next NMDHSEM-hosted workshop.
April 28, 2015: Presented the NM RGR Information Analysis Brief (IAB) to the Senior Leadership Steering Committee (SLSC) to include the NMDHSEM Secretary, FEMA R6 Regional Administrator (RA), and Division Directors (DD). Presented to FEMA headquarters on May 22, 2015.
April 29, 2015: Provided an overview of the NM RGR plan scenario to federal Emergency Support Functions (ESF) during Regional Interagency Steering Committee (RISC) meeting.
July 28-29, 2015: Facilitating a NMDHSEM-hosted State ESF Workshop to provide an overview of the NM RGR plan scenario and to conduct workgroup break-out sessions by ESF/Core Capability and validate objectives and tasks and gather resources available to identify resources required.

KEY POINTS OF CONTACT

Primary NMDHSEM:Marcella Benton – Local Program Manager (Preparedness Bureau)

Office: 505-476-9690 | Email:

(Marcella is helping coordinate this planning effort at the state/tribal/local level.)

Secondary NMDHSEM:Evonne Gantz – Operations Unit Manager (Response and Recovery Bureau)

Office: 505-476-9684 | Email:

(Evonne is our primary POC for Response to Response coordination; however, she was not designated to directly support this planning effort due to staffing shortages and mission requirements.)

Primary FEMA Region 6:Jennifer Superales– Operational Planner (Response Division)

Cell: 940-293-7871 | Email:

(Jennifer is the lead Planner for the overall planning initiative as the FEMA Region 6 Operational Planner assigned to support New Mexico. She is presently being supported by a 2- to 4-person contract team.)

PLANNING SCENARIO

In mid-March at approximately 2:00 pm, a ground rupturing magnitude 7.0 earthquake occurs without warning in the Rio Grande Rift on the Sandia-Rincon faults immediately impacting Albuquerque, New Mexico, and the surrounding areas. The epicenter is determined to be located just east of Bernalillo, New Mexico, along the I-25 corridor; a nearly 48 Km (~30 mile) long rupture forms along the fault line extending form the San Felipe Pueblo area down to the east side of Kirtland Air Force Base area (to include adjacent Albuquerque International Sunport and Sandia National Laboratory).

Up to 1.17 million residents throughout 11 counties, a ~35,064 square-mile area, detect varying shake intensity and begin reporting their experience through the USGS DidYouFeelIt? system, and other social media. Ground shaking will trigger liquefaction throughout a 90 square-mile area of soft, unconsolidated sediment along the Rio Grande River; landslides along Sandia Mountain also occur impacting the narrow eastern I-40 pass between Albuquerque and Tijeras. Secondary impacts such as widespread gas-related fires contribute to building damage/collapse resulting in multiple casualties and fatalities; voluntary evacuations of survivors will be necessary however I-25 and I-40 will be temporarily impassable.

Seismic data from the New Mexico Tech Seismic Network is recorded by the Albuquerque Seismological Laboratory (ASL) seismic station (ANMO) and transmitted to the USGS National Earthquake Information Center (NEIC) in Golden, Colorado; within approximately 30 minutes of the incident a PAGER (Prompt Assessment of Global Earthquakes for Response), an automated system for rapidly estimating the shaking distribution, the number of people and settlements exposed to severe shaking, and the range of possible fatalities and economic losses using ShakeMap methodology and software, is produced.

SHAKE INTENSITY AND ASSOCIATED DAMAGE

Source of parameters: New Mexico Geology, February 2004, Volume 26, Number 1, “Earthquake scenario and probabilistic ground-shaking hazard maps for the Albuquerque-Belen-Santa Fe, New Mexico corridor”, by Ivan Wong, Susan Olig, Mark Dober, Walter Silva, Douglas Wright, Patricia Thomas, Nick Gregor, Allan Sanford, Kuo-wan Lin, and David Love.

LIQUEFACTION SUSCEPTIBILITY AND PERMANENT GROUND DEFORMATION

Source of parameters: William Lettis & Associates, Inc. Final Technical Report “GIS-based Liquefaction Potential and Effects Mapping, Albuquerque-Santa Fe Corridor, New Mexico”, submitted to U.S. Geological Survey in April 2007.

PLANNING FACTORS

LOGISTICS FOCUSED PLANNING FACTORS

NOTE: The planning factors reflected above are estimates based on the best available data for scenario-based projected impacts yielded by the USGS NEIC (ShakeMap) and FEMA Hazus.

For questions regarding this document or the New Mexico Rio Grande Rift Catastrophic Earthquake Response Plan effort, please contact any member listed above in the Key Points of Contact.

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