Are YOU Ready for a Disaster?

[PanTheMan]

NEW YORK - A draft of the Bush administration’s final plan for dealing with a likely pandemic flu outbreak shows the United States is woefully unprepared for the potential disaster, The New York Times reported Saturday.

The document says a large outbreak that began recently in Asia would be likely to reach the United States within “a few months or even weeks,” and that more than 1.9 million people could die in the worst case scenario, the Times said.

If that occurred, according to the draft, hospitals would be overwhelmed, riots would engulf vaccination clinics and power and food would be in short supply, it said.

As if we didn't have to just worry about earthquakes and terrorists...
EVERY major news agency is reporting on this today for some reason.

[PanTheMan]

The likelihood of a human flu pandemic is very high, U.S. Health and Human Services Secretary Michael Leavitt warned Monday as he sought Southeast Asian cooperation to combat the spread of bird flu.

Leavitt and the director of the World Health Organization are touring Thailand, Laos, Cambodia and Vietnam to seek their collaboration in preparing for the anticipated public health emergency linked to the H5N1 strain of the disease.

That strain has swept through poultry populations in many parts of Asia since 2003 and jumped to humans, killing 65 people, of 73 people infected..