Hansen Clarke: Detroit at risk but unprepared for terrorist attack or natural disaster

Detroit is home to four international border crossings, a major oil refinery, a regional water system and one of the largest corporations in the nation.

But the city also has a large deficit, a reduced tax base and a shrinking budget.

So how would the Detroit Fire Department respond to a natural disaster or terrorist attack targeting one of the city's major assets?

"Start off by praying," Commissioner Donald Austin told members of a U.S. House Homeland Security subcommittee today at Wayne State University in Detroit, where federal, state and local leaders discussed emergency response preparedness at the US-Canada border.

Austin, who spoke on a panel of local and regional authorities, described the fiscal challenges facing his city and his department, which is struggling to handle day-to-day emergencies even as it is expected to be ready to respond to natural or man-made disasters.

"Detroit's at risk, and we're not adequately prepared," U.S. Rep. Hansen Clarke, who sits on the subcommittee and heard Austin's testimony, told MLive.com. "We need more resources, whether it's staffing, equipment, resources, training or coordination."

Earlier this year, Congress considered slashing Urban Area Security Initiative grants for dozens of urban areas, but Clarke successfully introduced an amendment to preserve that funding for Metro Detroit. Today, he called on the Federal Emergency Management Agency to increase grant distribution to Metro Detroit by reconsidering risk-factor methodology used to determine funding levels.

"Because of foreclosures, our local police, fire and emergency medical providers don't have the money to be equipped to respond to an attack," Clarke said. "It's not Homeland Security that's going to have to respond to a disaster. It's the Detroit Police or the Detroit Fire Department that's going to have to respond. They don't have the money to do that adequately right now. That's a concern."

Daryl Lundy and James P. Buford, who manage Department of Homeland Security efforts for Detroit and Wayne County, suggested that funding distribution -- not just the funding level -- is standing in the way of local emergency response preparedness. Because risk mitigation funds are distributed by region, Detroit shares resources with five counties in Southeast Michigan even though it is, undoubtedly, at higher risk.

Buford encourage a review of grant distribution in Metro Detroit to ensure that resources target high-threat, high-density areas as intended. "If this is not done, I believe that we will not be giving the citizens the best protection that they should have."