Menino looks to expand Boston's disaster plan

Mayor Thomas M. Menino, alarmed by the crisis unfolding in New Orleans, yesterday ordered his homeland security chief to rewrite the city's emergency plan to accommodate residents and commuters unable to evacuate during a disaster.

''We have an exodus plan in place," Menino said. ''We believed it was sufficient. But from what we're seeing in New Orleans, the plan has to be more extensive. We need to expand the plan."

Carlo Boccia, the city's director of Homeland Security, said the evacuation plan, dubbed Operation Exodus, could move a million people out of Boston in hours. But the city has not planned for a disaster, natural or manmade, in which residents and commuters cannot or will not leave the city.

Boccia said he hopes to enter into agreements with several facilities where tens of thousands of people could go in the event of an emergency.

Among the possible sites are the Boston Convention and Exhibition Center, John B. Hynes Veterans Memorial Convention Center, and the TD Banknorth Garden, the former FleetCenter.

He said he will hire specialists to study the buildings to make sure they could safely accommodate residents -- even if the city were without water, power, or a communications network.

He said he will look at six to eight arenas and convention halls that can hold at least 10,000 people.

''If we had to move people, we want to make sure these locations are adequate," he said.

The specialists will evaluate the buildings' structural integrity and emergency electrical, plumbing, heating, and ventilation systems. They will look at their communications system and access to transportation as well as the buildings' fire prevention and hazardous material detection capabilities.

The analysts will also determine whether the facilities could support medical care, and provide food, water, and toilet facilities, he said.

Menino wants an expanded emergency plan, Boccia said, although Boston isn't below sea level like New Orleans and a similar natural disaster is unlikely.

''We feel now that we need backup and redundancy in our plans," Boccia said. ''We have to have places that will function in the way the Superdome was supposed to function. We realize what their shortcomings are and will know more as time goes on. We hope to gain lessons learned from the Mississippi and Louisiana experience."

Menino said Boccia will produce a plan within 60 days.