State of Emergency : How Iowa Reacts

Today we were back at Camp Dodge to learn all about how the State of Iowa is preparing for almost any kind of disaster possible, and how they react when said disaster does occur.  We met downstairs in the Joint Forces Headquarters where there were semicircles of computers and speakers all pointed towards three huge television screens in the middle.  Each department in Iowa had at least one seat, so health and public safety, department of transportation, homeland security etc.  In the case of a declared emergency this is where each of the representatives gather to make important decisions.

We got the chance to split up into groups and have a conversation with different people who are involved in the process.  My group got to speak with a gentleman who was part of the intelligence team.  It was so interesting to hear him talk.  After a natural disaster occurs one of the biggest burdens that officers and citizens have to deal with is a rather large increase in crime.  Looters even come from out of state and transport goods back with them to re-sell!  He explained a little about how the process works.  There are different Fusion centers set up across the United States that all communicate with each other and warn each other of possible danger when they investigate or get leads from past crimes.  In the case of a large natural disaster these Fusion centers can look at past behaviors of certain groups of people and predict what they might try to do again.  When a certain group of people happens to go missing in a community following a disaster in a nearby area the centers are able to let citizens and officials know that looting and burglary is possible.

Our next speaker was Dr. Alec Zama who has lived under many different governmental structures in his life.  He is from Moldova, former Soviet Union, and grew up under a Totalitarian Regime .  He shared stories from his childhood and growing up as a young adult, and then moving to America.  The experiences he shared really made me feel thankful for all we have and the freedom we take for granted sometimes.

As a young child, Dr. Zama's father went to the court house to get a birth certificate printed for his son, he wanted to name him Albert.  They flat out refused and his father walked out, determined to name his own son what he and his wife had wanted.  The family and close friends called the baby Albert, no problem.  A few weeks later government officials came knocking on their door announcing that they had printed his birth certificate.  The Zama's were excited thinking that the government had finally given in and allowed them to name the baby, until they looked at the document and it said Yuri.  They still refused to call the child Yuri so he grew up as Albert, even though all of his legal documents said Yuri.  Naming our own child is definitely something we take for granted here in the United States.

He encouraged us to be thankful for what we have.  Even though we may have our fair share of problems here in the US, life could be way worse and we could have so many more restrictions put on our daily lives.