Emergency Planning in the UK... I have a bad feeling!

I hope discussing the location of the exercise etc isn't going to be a problem for the Liverpool Council. It is certainly not my intention to piss them off. I am just genuinely interested in these exercises.

I have family in the UK and hope that this is just an honest preparedness training exercise.
I am in the US and for the past 3 fridays there have been drills at the Arsenal/military compound near me. It begins with a siren and then goes on to announce lock downs in certain buildings and for all personell to seek cover etc...(and oddly to close the blinds and windows) they state after all of this that it is an exercise. I assure you it can scare the crap out of you if you don't know that it is just a drill. Fortunately I used to work there and have friends who work there also so I kind of know whats up. I just thought that it was curious that since there are usually only a couple of drills a year that 3 Fridays in a row was a bit much, like an anticipation of something. Also, there is usually a military helicopter that flies over every half hour. There are now several helicopters at once at varying times in the day, along with the half hour fly over.
Just a heads up that this is going on around here too, although nowhere near the extent of what you guys are seeing, saying that though the state I live in is bigger than the whole UK so I suppose we only get a fleeting glimpse of what goes on in the US.
When I was over there last time I was down south near Norwich and they were digging a humongous mudpile(stretched for miles) which my Dad told me was some kind of levee type thing to prevent the UK from flooding in a tidal or flash flood event. I would say that this is more of a concern for the Brits as there ain't much "higher ground" over there for you is there? Earthquake though? Strange.
Stay safe folks, eyes to the sky, ears to the ground.

Originally posted by Big Raging Loner
OK so for those who haven't heard recently there have been drills across the UK to test how the emergency services would prepare for an earthquake. That's right an earthquake. Perhaps this is the UK government freaking out as a result of the Christchurch quake, which took place in an area far from any major fault lines. Or maybe they are using the earthquake as a guise to prepare in secret for something much more sinister.

First up, Hampshire FRS applied to the EU for funding to host this exercise back in December last year - so clearly no-one is freaking out about anything.

Those involved in the exercise have previously helped in Haiti, Iraq, Pakistan etc

The reference to police officers being trained - as reported by the Telegraph - is incorrect and the result of typical poor standards of journalism these days. Do not believe what you read in the papers!

Why Merseyside though?...

Because Merseyside is one of the few places that had a tunnel suitable. Most towns in Britain don't have big tunnels!

So you might be thinking that this is just a standard drill they happen all the time.

Exactly they do. Far more frequently than many people realise. Although not as often as Crisis Management Exercises such as that held on 7/705 (they are held, on average, every day of the year - in fact several probably took place today). Or, indeed, fire drills .....

This is why it is not at all coincidence that major incidents sometimes occur at the same time as, or soon after, practice exercises. And often such exercises tend to be as realistic as possible to deal we the sort of incidents which are most likely to occur. Again, it's then no surprise when later similar incidents do occur! Though sometimes of course they will aim towards less likely events as well.

And of course, 20 or 30 years ago the most commonly held exercises dealt with a nuclear attack .......

reply to post by Alethea


You raise an interesting question about training in respect to sending specialists overseas to deal with disasters elsewhere. As Orion is an EU wide initiative, all I can really say is that perhaps it's a 'we're all in this together' scenario. So any disaster in the EU will be expected to receive help from all member states in some form.

Although as we have seen in regards to the Greece situation, it can often end up in every man for himself, in a truly Darwinist nature, just as rats flee a sinking ship. The difference being that a natural disaster is more inclined to provoke feelings of empathy as opposed to a somewhat self inflicted monetary collapse.

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Also what the hell do middle eastern officials have to do with our domestic emergency response operation? Something sinister is a foot!

ALS thanks for the reply, this is something I don't quite understand myself. I suppose if they are from earthquake prone areas then they could be present as advisers, or possibly future recipients of aid.

Originally posted by Essan
[quote/]

Those involved in the exercise have previously helped in Haiti, Iraq, Pakistan etc

Possible reason for there being middle eastern officials on scene, perhaps to learn a thing or two?

Peace.
ALS

reply to post by Essan


Hi Essan thanks for the reply!

I thought I should post up the link to the Orion exercise;

www.orion2010.co.uk...

I can't find any mention of the specialists being involved in the Pakistan and Haiti earthquakes. However I do know that the UK has just recently doubled aid efforts for Pakistan.

I don't think drills on this scale occur as often as you seem to believe though, that is one area where I have to disagree. Although journalism as always has it's flaws I do believe that they have rightly hailed this as the largest emergency response execise ever held in the UK, and the UK’s first live European Union civil protection exercise. I suppose this could merely be a case of the largest one ever had to happen sometime so why not now?

Yeah, I meant the one the email was about being more commonplace. Exercise Orion was indeed the biggest in Britain for a long time

However, Hampshire FRS have hosted similar exercises before. Last year it involved teams from USA, Japan, New Zealand, Switzerland and Hungary

www.hantsfire.gov.uk...

And in 2006

www.hantsfire.gov.uk...

So nothing unusual about this year's event except that more people were involved.

Is there a good time to practice drills. I think they should be done at least once a year for many different disasters.

Nothing wrong with knowledge and understandability.

Well tomorrow is the day of the proposed drill. Unfortunately I will be at work until the afternoon so I won't be able to make it down to see. But I will be checking the local news etc, to see if there are any pics etc and I will post them up.

Perhaps it's preparing for a nuclear attack. By the way, a totally socialist move there, wow.

Or perhaps they are actually just training. Not everything is a conspiracy.

reply to post by EnactedEgoTrip


We never do "training" or anything like that in the US, lol. I can't imagine a scenario when we would do "training" unless it was preparing for something really extremely terrible. My parents used to do bomb shelter training in schools, but that was about it, nothing I can ever remember having to do though.

reply to post by EnactedEgoTrip


It is most likely just a bit of training. However I felt the circumstances were a bit odd. Anyway the point I was making was not that something bad was going to happen during the drill, but that I had a bad feeling about all the drills recently being a precursor to something. Perhaps they have intelligence about a possible terrorist attack.

I'm sure you read the OP, but this drill in particular has been fairly hastily arranged, and appears to have been tacked on to the end of other operations by the Merseyside council.

reply to post by quantum_flux


I understand the concern, but you have to remember that people are often criticised for their lack of training and preparation for when bad things actually do happen. Personally, I think its good they are preparing for the unexpected. There have been a lot of events around the world, so can you really blame them?

reply to post by Big Raging Loner


Hi BRL,

Have a look at this:
www.liverpool.gov.uk...

Sorry I can't embed the image, web access limited to iPhone at the moment. It's an evacuation plan for Liverpool City Centre. I posted a thread on it when it was published in the local media at the height of the Swine Flu scare.

Croxteth was a good choice, not much mock up needed there to simulate an disaster zone...

Sendran.