A drill to test the operational capacity of the authorities, in particular civil protection entities, to respond to a severe typhoon and storm surge was held over the weekend, a statement from the Government Information Bureau informed.
The drill, code-named “Operation Crystal Fish,” which took place from 1 p.m. to 7 p.m., was observed closely by the Chief Executive (CE) Chui Sai On, who went to the command center of the operation to observe the procedures and see the results first-hand.
At the conclusion, the CE praised the authorities for holding the exercise and expressed much pleasure in the outcomes achieved, saying, “with this afternoon’s typhoon drill, we intended to get everyone prepared for the upcoming cyclone season,” adding, “for the first time, we are cooperating with local residents from several associations and with different government departments, in order to gain more experience [in] testing our overall capability on our newly-drafted evacuation plan.” .
As part of the drill, several rescue situations were simulated in different areas of the territory, such as procedures to evacuate residents in areas at high risk of flooding, where residents were evacuated to a designated assembly point located at the Sao Lourenco Market building in the inner harbor area. After evacuation, everyone was transferred to the designated shelters in line with the new plan, which establishes 16 locations now in place for such emergency situations.
The authorities also tested the response capacity to several other situations, such as simulating two people being trapped in a sinking vehicle, which was held in Ilha Verde district and involved new equipment recently acquired.
TDM interviewed a representative of the Social Welfare Bureau (IAS), in charge of the shelters, who said, “we are confident to say we are fully prepared for the shelters’ upcoming operation. If we take the Instituto Salesiano shelter as an example, we can expect to be able to fit in some 300 evacuees.”
Replying to the question of how long the shelters were to stay operational, the same person said, “we are [hoping] to stay open to [the] public for a maximum of 48 hours [after an emergency].”
According to information from the group in charge of preparing the Civic Protection contingency plan, the 16 shelters located across the Peninsula and Islands have a maximum capacity of lodging around 24,000 people for a short period of time.
The Fire Services Bureau and the Public Security Police Force were also involved in a number of other simulated situations that included gas leakage, collapsed trees and several evacuation procedures.
After the drill came to an end, Commander Ma Io Kun said, “the drills went smoothly, as expected, and have achieved an ideal result,” noting the authorities must now submit a fair evaluation of their performance within five days to the Civil Protection Operational Centre. RM
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