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Department
of Disaster Management holds National Hurricane Emergency
Exercise. |
July 19, 2007: The Department of Disaster Management
of the Government of Anguilla, conducted a National
Hurricane Emergency Exercise on July 18, 2007. Utility
companies and government departments participated in the
exercise which was held in Welches at the junction of the
new Shoal Bay road.
This was the fifth and largest in a series of drills
conducted since January according to the Department's
Director Elizabeth Klute, who along with Governor
Andrew George, Deputy Governor Stanley Reid and General
Manager of Caribbean Cable Communication Chris Graves,
met with the media after the event. She explained that
earlier exercises were smaller "in-service" training drills
that taught intelligent mapping and geographic
information systems. The current scenario which
simulated a Category 5 hurricane impacting Anguilla directly
was initiated in March and culminated with the live national
exercise on Wednesday.
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| (Left to Right) Deputy Governor Stanley Reid,
Governor Andrew George, Chris Graves and Elizabeth
Klute. |
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According to Klute, several lessons were learnt in the
process which she described overall as being interesting and
fun. She said that the exercise tested several components of
the new National Emergency and Disaster Plan including
utilities training with Cable and Wireless, Anglec, the
Water Company, Caribbean Cable Communications (CCC)
and Ministry of Infrastructure, Communications, Utilities
and Housing (MICUH).
She further stated that the forms to be used for damage and
use assessment were tested as well as a shelter was opened
to perform a shelter walk through and the registration of
families who volunteered to be a part of the exercise. A
relief center was also opened and supplies distributed.
In the afternoon the National Emergency Operation Center was
tested. It is here where all the information gathered from
casualties and damage is to be fed. It is the status
reporting and decision making center in the event of an
emergency. The Deputy Governor will be the Emergency
Executive in the Emergency Operation Center with ultimate
responsibility for the coordination of field activities.
Chris Graves, General Manager of CCC who was participating
in his first hurricane disaster drill expressed satisfaction
with the exercise from a utilities standpoint and voiced a
desire to see the exercises continue.
Governor Andrew George congratulated everyone involved
for what he described as a very useful exercise. He stated
that it was his second opportunity to witness one in
Anguilla and that he was pleased to see the hard work,
commitment and the close cooperation that exists between the
different government departments and agencies and the
private sector bodies. He emphasized the importance of
having extended the exercise this year beyond the utilities
to include shelters and relief centers. While noting the
importance of having the plans and manuals for emergency
response, completed ahead of time he added that there
was no substitute for having exercises on the ground for
people who would be involved in the real situation.
It is expected that the Department of Disaster Management
will conduct more exercises such as ferry drills, man
overboard drills and aircraft drills in the fall of this
year. |
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