Preparing for a bioterrorism threat

Tulsa health officials held one of their largest disaster drills ever. <br/><br/>The scenario: A plague attack at the Tulsa Riverparks. Hundreds of volunteer citizens played the part of the public.

Thursday, July 14th 2005, 9:58 am

By: News On 6

Tulsa health officials held one of their largest disaster drills ever.

The scenario: A plague attack at the Tulsa Riverparks. Hundreds of volunteer citizens played the part of the public. Mock victims checked in at Tulsaâ€™s Hale High School and were bussed over to the fairgrounds, where they were given make-believe medication. Obviously, a real disaster would not be this calm, but they hope with practice drills like this, people would be a little "more" calmer.

Volunteer Penni Penick: "I think it would a public mass of chaos, but I think if everybody could be aware, then I think it would help, and I think the emergency personnel would be able to handle everybody."

All the logistics behind the operation were real. They even had empty medicine bottles shipped in from the Centers for Disease Control, to see how long it would take.