MARION - As far as natural disasters go in 2008, Southern Illinois is about a forest fire away from hitting for the cycle.

To prepare for future misfortunes, the Williamson County Emergency Management Agency is working with Southern Illinois University Carbondale, Greater Egypt Regional Planning and Development and The Polis Center out of Purdue University to form a pre-disaster mitigation project.

The plan is a requirement of the Federal Disaster Mitigation Act of 2000 in which local governments must sort out a plan for disasters to receive federal assistance.

The consortium had its third of six meetings Wednesday at the Emergency Management Agency office in Marion. The group must take several steps including risk assessment, mitigation strategy and plan maintenance before sending a final draft to the Illinois EMA, who will pass it along to the Federal Emergency Management Agency.

Alan Gower, director of Williamson County Emergency Management Agency, said there are 17 counties working on the mitigation project, but Williamson County is pushing to get its plan in as soon as possible, mostly because Carterville and Marion are building new high schools and they will need the assistance to make them disaster ready.

"It kind of pushed Williamson County to the front of the pack as far as need," Gower said.

During the meeting, Nicholas Pinter and Harvey Henson with the SIUC department of geology, addressed steps already taken and highlighted disasters in the past. They made a list of the deadliest potential disasters for Southern Illinois with tornadoes, severe storms and earthquakes in the top three.

"There is a long history of really big disasters in Southern Illinois - more than any location other than California," Pinter said.

David Coats, associate director of the Polis Center, said that in the 1990s, $25 billion was spent on disasters, but with events such as Hurricane Katrina in the last few years, the need for money is increasing.

Southern Illinois has experienced earthquakes, flooding, tornado activity and extreme winter weather just in 2008.

"Stop and think about what has happened during this decade," Coats said. "It makes that $25 billion seem relatively small."

Gower said so far the group has made great progress and is on the fast track to making Williamson County a part of the mitigation program.

Coats said that while being a part of the plan will not save the region from natural disasters, it can at least help soften the blow if one were to occur.

codell.rodriguez@thesouthern.com

351-5804