The center’s director, Dr. Ahmed Al-Naimat, told Sky News Arabia that the exercise will simulate a sudden “impactful earthquake” without informing the field teams of the locations and times of the “hypothetical” earthquake.
He continues: “The information is then sent successively from the National Center for Crisis Management to the field operations rooms in various national institutions and departments in Jordan, with the aim of measuring the speed of response and how to activate the plans included in the national plan for dealing with earthquakes.”
A national plan to deal with earthquakes
Al-Naimat explained:
- The Jordanian National Plan for Dealing with Earthquakes was launched in 2019.
- The occurrence of several earthquakes in surrounding Arab countries and countries in the region made it necessary to update the plan after benefiting from feedback and lessons learned.
- The national plan was updated in 2022 to be consistent with the lessons learned, especially after the involvement of the Engineers and Contracting Unions in it.
Exercise participants
- The exercise will be held in partnership with 50 partners, led by the armed forces, security services, ministries and national institutions.
- The role of volunteers, professional unions and international organizations will also be integrated together to simulate hypothetical scenarios.
- Each partner will carry out the role required of him and trained in advance, according to Al-Naimat.
Possible scenarios
- According to Al-Naimat’s statement, among the scenarios is “testing the ability to evacuate schools, and evacuate factories and facilities that contain dangerous and explosive materials.”
- The exercise will test the ability to deal with the disruption of a port and use an alternative port or disruption of air navigation, in the event of a need for international aid and how to receive, store, distribute and classify it.
- The number of people expected to participate on the ground in the exercise may reach 3,000 people, “which is a large number because we will simulate a general and comprehensive crisis that will question work in the various governorates of the Kingdom,” according to the director of the National Center for Security and Crisis Management in Jordan.
Worst case scenario
- He stressed that the center conducts scenarios for many natural disasters, but it focuses on the worst scenario in its plans, which is “an effective earthquake.”
- The earthquake is considered the worst option due to the occurrence of sub-crises as a result of the “earthquake”, such as: the water crisis and its mixing with sewage, in addition to the ability of hospitals to work despite the power outage, and the increase in the number of visits in conjunction with the evacuation of injuries and deaths, and the crisis of public roads with their breaking and diverting traffic to other roads.
- This exercise tests the country’s ability to continue operating normally despite these circumstances.
- Our goal is to identify the gaps, weaknesses, avoid them, and strengths and maximize them, as there will be 3 evaluation teams; The first is national, the second is from within the centre, and the third is international.
Human ability
Al-Naimat explained during his speech that Jordan has the highest levels of human resources in the event of disasters, which are: a “heavy” international rescue team, trained rescue personnel, and volunteers.
He pointed out that these measures are precautionary measures only and there is no reason for panic, especially since Jordan has never witnessed a devastating earthquake before, pointing out that in 700 years there has not been an earthquake higher than 6.6 on the Richter scale in the Kingdom.
Morocco earthquake
Al-Naimat said: “Under the directives of King Abdullah II, we place all the capabilities of the National Center for Security and Crisis Management at the disposal of our brothers in Morocco, and our relationship with the Disaster and Emergency Directorate in Morocco is close and solid.”
He stressed that the center is prepared to manage two crises at the same time without affecting its national duties, noting, “Even if we have an exercise scenario and a duty that requires support for our brothers in Morocco, this will not affect the center’s usual daily duties.”
#earthquakes #region. #Jordan #intends #conduct #exercise #simulating #occurrence #disaster