RIVERSIDE - Federal grants totaling more than $2.3 million were accepted today by the Board of Supervisors for Riverside County programs focused on disaster preparedness and recovery.

The $574,146 Emergency Management Performance Grant and the $1.74 million Homeland Security Grant -- both awarded by the California Emergency Management Agency from funds provided by federal sources -- will be used to stockpile medical supplies, establish plans for dealing with catastrophes and support a program that recruits volunteers to lend a hand in a disaster.

According to the county's Office of Emergency Services, the county will retain around $500,000 and distribute the balance of the grant funds to two- dozen cities and agencies within the federally recognized Riverside County Operational Area.

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[ Carrington Home Loans ] Public Health will apply its share to replenish its stock of pharmaceuticals, including antibiotics, reserved for first responders and their families, according to the OES.

"The goal of the cache is to provide a three-day supply of medication, thereby sustaining the first responder community until additional resources can be obtained through the regional or state caches, or from the ... Strategic National Stockpile," an OES document says.

Funds will also support a sheriff's department training program geared to personnel responding to "all risk type events," as well as for the development of "Continuity of Government" and "Continuity of Operations" plans, according to the OES.

The health department's Medical Volunteer Program will receive an unspecified amount of funding for recruitment and retention efforts.