Preparedness can never hurt

By the time you read this, we should know if Hanna will prove a damaging invader or a meek visitor.

In either case, Gov. Timothy M. Kaine’s decision to declare a state of emergency in Virginia well in advance of any actual problem is worth looking at.

Mr. Kaine declared the state of emergency on Sept. 4, a good 48 hours before the tropical storm was expected to hit Virginia’s coast. In that length of time, a storm could strengthen, weaken or change course.

Declaring an emergency before any such actuality appears to be illogical. Why do it?

There are at least a couple of reasons.

For one, governments have grown more cautious about storm warnings since Hurricane Katrina devastated New Orleans and other Gulf Coast communities in a series of disasters that could have been predicted but largely went unheeded until too late.

Katrina was one of the strongest hurricanes ever recorded, and normal precautions would have had little effect in mitigating her damage. Still, failures both in preparing for the storm and dealing with its aftermath were so acute that they rapidly became legendary.

With that example before them, even governments that have no history of incompetence have grown more careful.

Declaring a state of emergency officially puts this state’s agencies on notice to be ready to quickly mobilize resources and manpower. Agencies such as the Virginia Emergency Operations Center go on heightened alert, as do the state police, National Guard and transportation department.

Another reason for declaring an official emergency before an actual emergency is to activate Virginia’s “anti-gouging” law. The law prevents “unconscionable” price increases for items deemed necessary to residents’ health and safety. The prohibition against jacking up prices is good for 30 days.

That law dates to 2004, even before Katrina. However, there were storms before Katrina where consumer price increases became a contentious political, and economic, issue. Severe storms can both destroy existing goods and resources and damage transportation systems by which additional supplies can be brought in. In classic economic style, reduction of supply increases demand for the remaining goods. And increased price is economics’ way of apportioning scarce resources.

At what point do price increases cease to be a fair response to supply and demand and become instead an “unconscionable” form of greed, putting health and safety at risk? Virginia’s law attempts to answer that question in practical terms.

As this is being written, Hanna is expected to swing up the coast and hit Virginia with enough force to potentially cause flooding, tornadoes and power outages.

Preparedness seems in order.

If we’re ready for an emergency, then we help diminish that emergency.