The Department of Homeland Security’s science and technology directorate in a Federal Emergency Management Agency exercise intending to simulate earthquake response and recovery efforts in Memphis, Tenn, DHS said Wednesday.
The agency will team up with local, state, federal and international organizations to assess approaches and technologies in urban search and rescue and information sharing functions as part of the three-day Shaken Fury 2019 event. DHS S&T will also test an autonomous search and rescue tool, a heartbeat detector and an online regional information portal developed in partnership with the Central U.S. Earthquake Consortium.
“This exercise gives us a great opportunity to get diverse and unique perspectives from federal, state and local agencies, vendors, and first responders on our suite of technologies,†said William Bryan, senior official performing the duties of the undersecretary for science and technology at DHS. “Some emergencies, like earthquakes, come with little-to-no warning, so being able to plan with multiple organizations is important to building a prepared and resilient nation,†added Bryan.