A report detailing Wisconsin's emergency preparedness in the case of a disaster in the state was released Friday, showing though Wisconsin is better prepared for disaster than many other states, there are areas still requiring improvement.

In the wake of Hurricane Katrina, Doyle asked Major General Al Wilkening, adjutant general of Wisconsin, in mid-September to compile an analysis of the state's emergency response plans to find potential weaknesses.

"On the whole, Wisconsin is far more prepared than the Gulf Region was," Doyle said in a release. "But this report identifies some important areas on the state and local level where we need to improve significantly. I am committed to leading this statewide effort to make those changes."

Doyle said he was "deeply troubled" by what happened in the South after the hurricane hit, and added the report is the "first step" in making sure if the state is hit by a disaster of similar magnitude, it will be prepared and will be able to avoid similar mistakes.

The biggest finding in the report was the state's need for mass evacuation plans in the Wisconsin's 72 counties, Wisconsin Emergency Management spokesperson Lori Getter said.

Though the counties' plans for evacuation are updated each year, many of the plans do not have evacuation and shelter schemes for large-scale catastrophes.

"Our capability for mass evacuations isn't necessarily not present, but it hasn't been tested," Lt. Col. Tim Donovan, of the Wisconsin National Guard, said. "So one of the things we're recommending after our review of emergency management plans in Wisconsin is that not only do we [have proper] plans but we test them to make sure those plans can be executed."

Since receiving the report, Doyle has instructed WEM to revise evacuation plans for the 11 counties holding the state's largest metropolitan areas so the state's cities will be prepared for a full evacuation. This will ensure the breakdown in the evacuation in New Orleans will not happen in any city in Wisconsin.

Donovan said though mass-scale evacuation plans need work, the lack of accessible communication lines between first responders is also a huge threat if the state were ever faced with a major disaster.

"We can still communicate by relaying messages, but that is not quite as good as communicating in real time," Donovan said. "Our thought is to improve our communication interoperability in order to fix that."

Though the state's National Guard preparedness was found to be in working order, the report did mention the Guard needs "to work to improve response time, and increase joint training exercises on the local, state, and federal level."

In addition, coordination between communities, local governments and counties need to be redone to guarantee an effective response to emergencies in the state.

Getter also said the state needs to make sure nursing homes and medical care facilities are up-to-date with evacuation plans so the state's disabled populations will be adequately taken care of in the case of an emergency evacuation. The state also must take measures to identify people with special needs so if a disaster hits, these people will not be overlooked.

Now that the state of Wisconsin will be reworking its evacuation plans, individual counties will likely test the plans once they are outlined.

Regular testing of emergency preparedness through mock accidents or mock disasters by communities and counties in the state help prepare emergency management groups for real problems that may arise, Getter added.

"We do test all of our emergency plans, and that's where we see our strengths and where we need improvement," she said. "We'd rather see where those weaknesses are during an exercise than find them during the real thing."