FEMA Region 6 and New Mexico Department of Homeland Security
New Mexico Rio Grande Rift Catastrophic Earthquake Response Plan
Summary
New Mexico Rio Grande Rift
Catastrophic Earthquake Response Plan Summary
SITUATION
The Department of Homeland Security (DHS), Federal Emergency Management Agency, Region
6 (FEMA R6) and New Mexico Department of Homeland Security and Emergency Management
(NMDHSEM) are engaged in a 12-month joint response planning project.

The project began in November 2014 and is set to conclude in November 2015.

The final deliverable is the New Mexico Rio Grande Rift (RGR) Catastrophic Earthquake
Response Plan (or NM RGR plan).

The focus is on addressing the NMDHSEM Secretary’s primary concerns: Interoperability
of C4 (Command, Control, Communications, and Computers) and Logistics
─ Secretary M. Jay Mitchell expressed his primary concerns during the Information Analysis
Brief (IAB) to the Senior Leadership Steering Committee (SLSC) on March 28, 2015.

Intent is to engage Whole Community stakeholders to the maximum extent possible throughout
the planning process.
DESIRED END STATE

Enhance New Mexico’s capability to respond to a catastrophic incident and manage up to a
Level 1 (Type 1) disaster

Produce an executable plan that:
─ Is clear and succinct in roles, responsibilities, and resources to include deployment
timelines and staging locations
─ Contains objectives and critical tasks for response operations during the first 72 to 96 hours
─ Corresponds with/enhances existing All-Hazards plans to integrate the local, tribal, state,
and federal levels for continuity
─ Informs New Mexico’s Threats and Hazards Identification and Risk Assessment
BACKGROUND
In April 2012, stakeholders of FEMA Region 6 and the NMDHSEM met to discuss All Hazards
planning. As a result of the discussion, NMDHSEM specifically requested planning support to
address the New Mexico’s earthquake hazard associated with the numerous active faults of
the RGR; FEMA Region 6 coordinated with FEMA Headquarters to request for support for the
state-requested deliberate planning initiative—which was approved for Fiscal Year (FY) 2015.
Although the NM RGR plan was originally proposed as a joint planning initiative, it is presently
being developed primarily for the Federal Interagency while incorporating critical findings and
recommendations for ‘atypical’ solutions to help enhance New Mexico’s Emergency
Operations Plan (EOP) and NMDHSEM’s ability to execute it and the Catastrophic Incident
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FEMA Region 6 and New Mexico Department of Homeland Security
New Mexico Rio Grande Rift Catastrophic Earthquake Response Plan
Summary
Appendix. Specifically, the focus of this planning initiative will be on certain response enabling
and survivor needs enabling core capabilities and associated Emergency Support Functions
(ESF) that align with NMDHSEM Secretary’s primary concerns (C4 and Logistics):
NOTE: Many of the core capabilities are interdependent and ESFs support multiple core
capabilities simultaneously in application.
Thus far, Sandia National Laboratory has confirmed they will be conducting an earthquake
exercise this year and the NM RGR plan scenario was provided by FEMA Region 6 to support
that effort. In addition, FEMA Region 6 received confirmation the New Mexico National Guard
will be using the scenario for Vigilant Guard (VG) 2017 as part of their overall Full-Scale
Exercise (FSE).
KEY MEETINGS

December 4/9, 2014: Met with FEMA R6 internal stakeholders from all Divisions and Program
Areas to discuss the NM RGR planning strategy and key considerations.

January 21/22, 2015: Met with NMDHSEM to ‘kick-off’ NM RGR planning initiative; agreed
to an Albuquerque earthquake scenario based on the advice of subject matter expert (SME)
and geologist, David W. Love, Ph.D., of New Mexico Institute of Mining and Technology
(NM Tech). Also, met with SMEs from NM Tech, University of New Mexico (UNM), etc. to
affirm initial FEMA Hazus findings; provided second scientific study on the area’s liquefaction
susceptibility.

February 2-4, 2015: Participated in NMDHSEM-hosted Interstate Emergency Response
Support Plan (IERSP) meeting to provide an overview of the NM RGR plan scenario and to
solicit recommendations from fellow FEMA R6 state partners on resources available through
Mission Ready Packages (MRP).
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FEMA Region 6 and New Mexico Department of Homeland Security
New Mexico Rio Grande Rift Catastrophic Earthquake Response Plan
Summary

March 23, 2015: Facilitated a NMDHSEM-hosted Local Emergency Management Workshop
to provide an overview of the NM RGR plan scenario and to help validate areas of concern
with city, county, and tribal responders and other stakeholders representing the Whole
Community.

March 31, 2015: Met with FEMA R6 Incident Management Assistance Team (IMAT) to
provide an overview of the NM RGR plan scenario and to request for support in developing
the Concept of Operations (CONOPS).

April 23, 2015: Met with NM Federal Executive Board (NM FEB) to provide an overview of
the NM RGR plan scenario, key considerations for Continuity of Operations (COOP),
devolution, and overall Continuity of Government (COG) and to discuss the Way Forward in
preparation for next NMDHSEM-hosted workshop.

April 28, 2015: Presented the NM RGR Information Analysis Brief (IAB) to the Senior
Leadership Steering Committee (SLSC) to include the NMDHSEM Secretary, FEMA R6
Regional Administrator (RA), and Division Directors (DD). Presented to FEMA
headquarters on May 22, 2015.

April 29, 2015: Provided an overview of the NM RGR plan scenario to federal Emergency
Support Functions (ESF) during Regional Interagency Steering Committee (RISC) meeting.

July 28-29, 2015: Facilitating a NMDHSEM-hosted State ESF Workshop to provide an
overview of the NM RGR plan scenario and to conduct workgroup break-out sessions by
ESF/Core Capability and validate objectives and tasks and gather resources available to
identify resources required.
KEY POINTS OF CONTACT
Primary NMDHSEM:
Marcella Benton – Local Program Manager (Preparedness Bureau)
Office: 505-476-9690 | Email: marcella.benton@state.nm.us
(Marcella is helping coordinate this planning effort at the state/tribal/local level.)
Secondary NMDHSEM:
Evonne Gantz – Operations Unit Manager (Response and Recovery
Bureau)
Office: 505-476-9684 | Email: evonne.gantz@state.nm.us
(Evonne is our primary POC for Response to Response coordination; however, she was not
designated to directly support this planning effort due to staffing shortages and mission
requirements.)
Primary FEMA Region 6: Jennifer Superales – Operational Planner (Response Division)
Cell: 940-293-7871 | Email: jennifer.superales@fema.dhs.gov
(Jennifer is the lead Planner for the overall planning initiative as the FEMA Region 6 Operational
Planner assigned to support New Mexico. She is presently being supported by a 2- to 4-person
contract team.)
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FEMA Region 6 and New Mexico Department of Homeland Security
New Mexico Rio Grande Rift Catastrophic Earthquake Response Plan
Summary
PLANNING SCENARIO
In mid-March at approximately 2:00 pm, a ground rupturing magnitude 7.0 earthquake occurs
without warning in the Rio Grande Rift on the Sandia-Rincon faults immediately impacting
Albuquerque, New Mexico, and the surrounding areas. The epicenter is determined to be located
just east of Bernalillo, New Mexico, along the I-25 corridor; a nearly 48 Km (~30 mile) long
rupture forms along the fault line extending form the San Felipe Pueblo area down to the east side
of Kirtland Air Force Base area (to include adjacent Albuquerque International Sunport and Sandia
National Laboratory).
Up to 1.17 million residents throughout 11 counties, a
~35,064 square-mile area, detect varying shake
intensity and begin reporting their experience through
the USGS DidYouFeelIt? system, and other social
media. Ground shaking will trigger liquefaction
throughout a 90 square-mile area of soft, unconsolidated
sediment along the Rio Grande River; landslides along
Sandia Mountain also occur impacting the narrow
eastern I-40 pass between Albuquerque and Tijeras.
Secondary impacts such as widespread gas-related fires
contribute to building damage/collapse resulting in
multiple casualties and fatalities; voluntary evacuations
of survivors will be necessary however I-25 and I-40
will be temporarily impassable.
Seismic data from the New Mexico Tech Seismic
Network is recorded by the Albuquerque Seismological
Laboratory (ASL) seismic station (ANMO) and
transmitted to the USGS National Earthquake Information Center (NEIC) in Golden, Colorado;
within approximately 30 minutes of the incident a PAGER (Prompt Assessment of Global
Earthquakes for Response), an automated system for rapidly estimating the shaking distribution,
the number of people and settlements exposed to severe shaking, and the range of possible fatalities
and economic losses using ShakeMap methodology and software, is produced.
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FEMA Region 6 and New Mexico Department of Homeland Security
New Mexico Rio Grande Rift Catastrophic Earthquake Response Plan
Summary
SHAKE INTENSITY AND ASSOCIATED DAMAGE
Source of parameters: New Mexico Geology, February 2004, Volume 26, Number 1, “Earthquake
scenario and probabilistic ground-shaking hazard maps for the Albuquerque-Belen-Santa Fe,
New Mexico corridor”, by Ivan Wong, Susan Olig, Mark Dober, Walter Silva, Douglas Wright,
Patricia Thomas, Nick Gregor, Allan Sanford, Kuo-wan Lin, and David Love.
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FEMA Region 6 and New Mexico Department of Homeland Security
New Mexico Rio Grande Rift Catastrophic Earthquake Response Plan
Summary
LIQUEFACTION SUSCEPTIBILITY AND PERMANENT GROUND DEFORMATION
Source of parameters: William Lettis & Associates, Inc. Final Technical Report “GIS-based
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FEMA Region 6 and New Mexico Department of Homeland Security
New Mexico Rio Grande Rift Catastrophic Earthquake Response Plan
Summary
Liquefaction Potential and Effects Mapping, Albuquerque-Santa Fe Corridor, New Mexico”,
submitted to U.S. Geological Survey in April 2007.
PLANNING FACTORS
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FEMA Region 6 and New Mexico Department of Homeland Security
New Mexico Rio Grande Rift Catastrophic Earthquake Response Plan
Summary
LOGISTICS FOCUSED PLANNING FACTORS
NOTE: The planning factors reflected above are estimates based on the best available data for
scenario-based projected impacts yielded by the USGS NEIC (ShakeMap) and FEMA Hazus.
For questions regarding this document or the New Mexico Rio Grande Rift Catastrophic
Earthquake Response Plan effort, please contact any member listed above in the Key Points of
Contact.
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