The cost and feasibility of emergency co-operation among local governments.

This report examines cost and feasibility factors that affect the ease of establishing a civil defense organization. From quantitative considerations of the need for emergency interactions among local government functions, the report concludes that an essentially new form of organization will require about 200 specially trained co-ordinators in Santa Clara County, California. Realistic planning, recruiting, training and testing estimates for such a program imply a national civil defense effort in the order of $2 million per year. Analyses of the legal basis and potential local acceptance of centralized co-ordination in Santa Clara County indicate that an emergency organization would be feasible to establish using certain program guidelines. First, program direct costs would be most acceptable if supported by the federal government. Second, the organization should be locally tailored to existing government structures rather than patterned uniformly throughout the country. Third, the organization should be flexible to permit pre-emption of local authority in proportion to the severity of the emergency