Work on updating Arizona’s emergency plan was scheduled to begin Sept. 23 with a meeting at the Capitol, “the first of a comprehensive process,” a spokeswoman said.

Governor Napolitano called for a review of the 464-page plan in the wake of the Hurricane Katrina disaster, with emphasis on “what happens if we must accept a large influx of evacuees from a neighboring state,” such from California after a major earthquake, said Jeanine L’Ecuyer, the governor’s press secretary.

Arizona took in around 2,000 hurricane evacuees from the Gulf Coast, and most were sheltered at Veterans Memorial Coliseum and the Tucson Convention Center. The last of the evacuees left the coliseum Sept. 22.

The subject of a California evacuation was discussed last February during a meeting of the Senate Government Committee to approve continuance of the Department of Emergency Management

“Yuma would be devastated,” Homeland Security Director Frank Navarette told the committee.

In an interview Sept. 21, Mr. Navarette said Arizona continues to receive and order emergency equipment provided by grants from the federal Office of Homeland Security, and the emergency plan has identified 40 “critical sites” as far as vulnerability to terrorism or natural disaster.

“The majority are in the private sector,” he said. “We’re still refining the list.”

Mr. Navarette said the state cannot require the privately owned sites to spend money to protect them, “but we try to be influential.” Some of the sites were designated by the federal government.

Stockpiles of medicines for large scale emergencies are strategically located in the state, and the emergency plan provides ways the drugs can be disbursed within hours.

The plan, Mr. Navarette says, is not being revised.

“We’re going to determine where we are, how do we look, how do we tweak it,” he said.

Ms. L’Ecuyer said, “It’s a whole new set of variables we now deal with: What the federal response will be, for example…”

She and Mr. Navarette said they didn’t know how long it will take to have an updated plan in place. —