Every family in the midland counties of Longford, Laois, Offaly and Westmeath will soon receive a booklet telling them how they should respond to a major disaster should it happen in their area.
The booklet is one aspect of the Midlands Region Common Major Emergency Plan which was officially launched this week in Tullamore by the Minister for Health, Mr Cowen.
The counties concerned are criss-crossed by a network of major roads and railway lines which have the potential to deliver sudden and unexpected violent accidents in the counties where 203,000 people live.
Many serious accidents have taken place in the Midlands over the years, including a major train crash near Portlaoise. Two years ago disaster was averted when a lorry carrying 23,500 gallons of gas crashed in the village of Edgeworthstown, Co Longford.
Since then a plan to deal with such major events has been drawn together involving the Garda, the Midland Health Board, the four county councils and other agencies such as the civil defence units in the area.
On Monday representatives of these groups were at the Tullamore Court Hotel for the launch of the plan and to hold a seminar on disasters and the response to them.
Mr Cowen paid tribute to the chief executive of the Midlands Health Board, Mr Denis Doherty, who had conceived the original combined plan. He said his Department had given £20,000 towards the cost of circulating the booklet and holding the seminar.
During the seminar, the Westmeath Chief Fire Officer, Mr Murty Hanley, called for the establishment of a national working group to agree a single interagency plan to ensure uniformity of approach in dealing with major emergencies.
Mr Hanley, who chaired the Midland Region Major Emergency Planning Study Group, said one of the greatest impediments to disaster preparedness was the tendency to believe that it could be accomplished merely by completing written plans.
He said that as members of the public would be the first to arrive on the scene of any major emergency, the public should be educated on what to expect and what to do.
It was for that reason, he said, that every householder in the Midlands will receive a copy of the householder's guide to major emergencies. The number of people killed in accidents in the four counties was 38 in 1991; 32 in 1992; 33 in 1993, 1994 and 1995 - but it rose to 37 last year.