Towns across Northern Ireland are not well enough equipped to cope with any major new terrorist attack, Omagh bomb victims claimed yesterday.
Emergency planning and evacuation procedures are dangerously undeveloped compared with other countries and cities, relatives of those killed in the bombing believe.
Mr Mark Breslin, whose wife Geraldine died in the blast, has spent five years studying worldwide anti-terrorist preparations.
He said: "Future lives could be saved if we had a root-and-branch approach to preparing for terrorist attack. I believe Northern Ireland is not as well prepared as the experience and history here should dictate."
Mr Breslin has compiled a dossier he says backs his view. His work formed part of a package presented to the Northern Ireland Human Rights Commission in Belfast by the Omagh families as part of demands for a public inquiry on both sides of the Border into the bombing.
They want chief rights commissioner Mr Brice Dickson and his staff to back their call for a tribunal into events surrounding the August 1998 "Real IRA" attack which killed 29 people.
A big part of their continued frustration is based on how Omagh was evacuated on the day of the explosion.
They claim there was a lack of basic training over bomb-threat procedures.
A spokeswoman for Belfast City Council said: "We do have an emergency action plan which covers situations where people have to be evacuated, such as a fire or major spillage and we would provide bedding and food.
"For a major terrorist incident we would work with the police, fire and ambulance services.
"There's a strategic group which looks at overall proposals for Northern Ireland."
PA