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| Urban Areas Security Initiative (UASI)
In 2003, the U.S. Department of Homeland Security (DHS) created the Urban Areas Security Initiative (UASI) Grant Program to support the planning, equipment, training and exercise needs of high-threat, high-density urban areas around the country. UASI was designed to assist urban areas build an enhanced and sustainable capacity to prevent, protect against, respond to and recover from acts of terrorism, although UASI grants have increased the ability of urban areas to respond to all types of emergencies, both natural and human-caused.
Eligible candidates have been determined through an analysis of relative risk of terrorism. For 2008, the eligible candidates were grouped into two tiers according to relative risk. Tier I includes the seven highest risk areas (Los Angeles, Jersey City/Newark, Bay Area, New York City, National Capital Region, Houston, and Chicago) and received 55 percent of the total UASI funding available; Tier II included the other 53 candidate areas and was allocated the remaining 45 percent of the total available UASI funding.
Since 2003, the Portland Urban Area has received UASI grant funds totaling approximately $48 million to purchase specialized equipment for emergency responders and enhance regional emergency preparedness, response and recovery capabilities including: interoperable communications, urban search and rescue, onsite incident management, hazardous materials response and decontamination, medical surge, community and citizen preparedness, emergency public information and warning, explosive device response and critical infrastructure protection planning.
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