"The mission of the New Madrid Seismic Zone Catastrophic Planning Project is to increase national readiness for a catastrophic earthquake in the NMSZ. Specifically, this will be accomplished by developing a series of annexes or supplements to existing base plans for response and recovery to a series of major earthquakes in the NMSZ and integrating them into a single document with federal, regional, tribal, state, and local components. Additionally, the mission is to identify any issues that can not be resolved based on current capabilities and to propose recommended courses of action for decision makers involved in this project. The NMSZ Catastrophic Planning project will serve to accomplish the following three main objectives: (1) Improve response to a catastrophic earthquake and related hazards in the NMSZ (2) Plan for a coordinated response and recovery effort among Federal, State, and local agencies (3) Incorporate lessons from the Hurricane Katrina response, Southeast Louisiana Catastrophic Hurricane Plan, and previous earthquakes". (FEMA, NMSZ Catastrophic Planning, 2007)