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Earthquake Exercise to Test Local Civil Defence Systems
Press release
Earthquake Exercise to Test Local Civil Defence Systems
Queenstown and Wanaka Emergency Services and QLDC staff will have the opportunity to test out their emergency management knowledge and preparedness next week when a simulated earthquake strikes the South Island.
Exercise Te Ripahapa, based on a large-scale rupture of the Alpine Fault, will take place from 9am to 9pm on Wednesday May 29, 2013.
Queenstown Lakes District Council emergency management officer Jon Mitchell said the exercise had real relevance for the district.
“Our proximity to the Alpine Fault means this scenario will offer valuable practice to local emergency management staff and other first response organisations,” he said.
“A large magnitude earthquake on the Alpine Fault will seriously impact both Queenstown and Wanaka. This exercise will enable teams to practice their emergency response coordination roles and systems and see how they respond.”
He said the exercise would be run in real time and had been designed so that each area would face situations and challenges that were most likely for their specific district.
“We’ll be dealing with things like communications outages, building damage that may affect where the Emergency Operation Centre is sited and damage to infrastructure that impacts on our ability to get emergency services and supplies in and out,” he said.
“The aim is to make it as realistic as possible and in Queenstown there will be a field component with Red Cross setting up an emergency welfare centre. The Salvation Army will also be supporting the exercise by feeding the Queenstown responders using their new emergency catering vehicle.”
The exercise will involve approximately 60 people across the district and Mr Mitchell said as well as being an opportunity to practice it will help with future planning.
‘We expect the learnings from the exercise will help us to develop better community-specific plans throughout the district in the months ahead.”
The exercise is being run in conjunction with partner organisations across Otago, Southland, and the rest of the South Island, supported by the Ministry of Civil Defence Emergency Management.
ENDS
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