New York fails to learn from 9/11

Washington: Five years after the September 11 terror attacks, Washington has done a far better job of coordinating its emergency agencies' ability to communicate during a disaster than New York City, which was hit hardest, according to a federal report obtained by The Associated Press.

Only six of 75 US metro-politan areas won the highest grades for their emergency agencies' ability to communicate during a disaster, according to the draft portion of the Homeland Security Department report. The report, to be released this week, gives the best ratings to Washington, D.C; San Diego; Minneapolis-St Paul; Columbus, Ohio; Sioux Falls, South Dakota; and Laramie County, in Vice-President Dick Cheney's home state of Wyoming. New York City ranked only 14th on the list.

The lowest scores went to Chicago; Cleveland; Baton Rouge, Louisiana, and American Samoa.

The report included large and small cities and their suburbs, along with US territories.

In an overview, the report said all 75 areas surveyed have policies in place for helping their emergency workers communicate. But it cautioned that regular testing and exercises are needed "to effectively link disparate systems".

It also said while cooperation among emergency workers is strong, "formalised governance [leadership and planning] across regions has lagged".

The study, conducted by the Homeland Security Department, was likely to add fuel to what looms as a battle in Congress this year. Democrats who take over the majority this week have promised to try fixing the problem emergency agencies have communicating with each other.