Virginia leaders focus on cybersecurity, disasters during first-ever readiness summit

RICHMOND, Va. — How prepared is Virginia for the next major emergency?

That was the focus of Virginia's first Unified Readiness Summit, where about 900 first responders, health care leaders and emergency managers gathered Wednesday at Richmond Raceway.

Gov. Abigail Spanberger hosted the event after holding seven regional summits across the state to identify local preparedness challenges.

"The measure of our collective preparedness isn't whether one agency can respond well," Spanberger said. "It is whether Virginia can respond well when an incident overwhelms the capacity of one agency, a locality or a sector."

What officials see as the biggest threats

Participants pointed to a growing list of risks facing Virginia, including cyberattacks, severe weather and civil unrest.

Chief Tim Estes Sr. of the Abingdon Fire Department said technology-related threats are a major concern.

"Everything that could be messed with our data centers, with our infrastructure ... because everything is driven off the internet," Estes said.

Others said changing weather patterns are creating new challenges for communities that historically have not faced certain natural disasters.

"The places where we typically don't see an earthquake or a tornado, we're starting to see them," said Scott Cormier of the Virginia Hospital & Healthcare Association.

Why the summit matters

State leaders say preparedness depends on more than how individual agencies respond to emergencies.

The goal is to improve coordination among law enforcement, hospitals, emergency managers and other organizations before a crisis occurs.

"For 32 years we have known that the Commonwealth and our localities have been struggling to work around system shortfalls," Spanberger said.

Officials say success will ultimately be measured by how well Virginia responds when a disaster, cyberattack or other emergency exceeds the resources of a single agency or community.

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