3,000 evacuate in downtown drill

People from high-rises flood streets in calm test

By Joseph Ryan
Daily Herald Staff Writer
Posted Friday, September 08, 2006

More than 3,000 downtown Chicago workers, many laughing and gabbing, calmly flooded into the city’s streets in the nation’s first large-scale urban evacuation drill Thursday afternoon.

The orderly drill, which comes as the fifth anniversary of the Sept. 11 attacks looms, underscored both the difficulty of re-creating a disaster’s havoc and also how far the city may always be from the elusive goal of “preparedness.”

“You cannot wait for a real live situation,” said Chicago Mayor Richard Daley at a follow-up news conference where city leaders declared success.

The organized evacuation — companies volunteered for the event and planned for days — emptied four high-rises at just before 4 p.m. at Monroe Avenue and Wacker Drive, including the Chicago Mercantile Exchange. About 23 percent of those working in the buildings participated.

Following a chorus of sirens from a horde of Chicago’s top fire and police brass, workers began pouring onto Monroe Street after about three minutes.

They walked west on Monroe Street five blocks to Des Plaines Street, where emergency personnel split the flow into two streams that filled two white tents. Hunched over wood tables, the masses filled out forms with their name and company, got water bottles, were given free blue backpacks and sent on their way. The drill was finished in about an hour.

Many in the crowd, who were all given white T-shirts with the motto “Building a Culture of Preparedness,” said the drill made them feel safer.

“When I see this, I have to feel good about our preparedness,” said Barrington resident Roger Lynch of Goldman Sachs as he walked down Monroe Street.

Some security experts agree, while others consider the drill more pomp than preparation.

“This is in no way a realistic exercise to ensure the public ... in Chicago is able to evacuate the Loop,” scoffed Matthew Lippman, a University of Illinois at Chicago criminal law professor specializing in terrorism. “Is this really serious, or just a nice little media presentation?”

Lippman said it was good to have a crowd-control test, but there should be a focus on hospitals, police and fire response, and communication equipment.

Chicago officials say the evacuation drill was realistic, despite the lack of panic, injuries and mass confusion.

“Walking down 40 flights of stairs and down eight blocks is not easy,” Daley said.

Chicago Chief Emergency Officer Cortez Trotter said one lesson learned was to warn high-rise workers to keep a pair of comfortable shoes around. Daley said there will be more evacuation drills in the coming years.

Greg Lord, a deputy director at George Washington University’s Homeland Security Policy Institute, says Chicago is ahead of other major cities. No other U.S. city has performed as extensive of an evacuation.

“In a perfect world, all the major cities would run full-scale events, where they move 10,000 people and treat 5,000,” said the lifelong emergency management professional. “But the cost is horrendous.”

Lord said that while Chicago’s effort may be seen as too small, the city can never inoculate itself against every disaster.

“You can’t be prepared for every event,” Lord said. “You can only try and continually work towards that end.”

Some participants clearly sided with Lord.

“There is always the concern” that Chicago isn’t prepared, said Jim Push of Carol Stream, a 42-year-old employee of the URS engineering firm. “This is practice, and practice always makes perfect.”