California Seeks Lessons From Napa Quake

City, county and state officials say the Napa earthquake response generally worked well in the disaster’s immediate aftermath. But at a legislative hearing today, they did acknowledge there is room for improvement. Mark Ghilarducci heads California’s Office of Emergency Services. He says using mapping technology could help streamline the response in a number of ways.

"Mapping 911 calls from the 911 centers, resource locations, where they’re at the time of the event, critical infrastructure damage, vulnerable populations and assisting with predicting and visualizing the largest impact areas," he says.

City and county officials noted the lack of federal financial assistance to individual households. The president has approved relief aid for governments, but has not acted on individual assistance. The state does not have its own individual assistance program.