The Department of Homeland Security surveyed hundreds of metropolitan areas across the country and found that Topeka is at the top of the list when it comes to being ready for disaster.

A series of large scale disasters in the United States has highlighted the importance of communication in a crisis.

Kathryn Allen with Shawnee County's Homeland Security Program says it needs to be a top priority.

"It was really identified after 9/11 and Katrina that it's really important for agencies to be able to communicate with each other," Allen said.

And Shawnee County is ahead of the curve.

Members of the Emergency Communications Center have been working on a plan to improve communications since the early 90s, and when representatives of the Department of Homeland Security came to see a test run, they were impressed.

Bill Singer has been leading the project since its inception and he says they were especially impressed with their ability to connect any agency with any other.

"I can take any two talk groups and patch them together and allow people that don't have a common talk group to just patch them together and allow them to talk," he explained.

And he says that's important because communication is key, no matter how large or small the disaster.

"Remember, it all starts with one call to 9-1-1 or Hazmat or a huge scale event like 9/11 and it's going to start with communications personnel on board," he said.

There is one area where Shawnee County needs work, and that is in speaking plain old English. Most local departments speak in codes, especially over the radio, but when different agencies work together they all have to use plain speak, and after years of training with 10-codes, it's tough to break the habit.