Montserrat’s emergency response agencies were put to the test to evaluate how prepared they are to respond to major incidents here.
A National Table-Top exercise was conducted at the Disaster Management Coordination Agency- DMCA conference room on Wednesday.
The tabletop workshop was designed to evaluate how key agencies would coordinate during a mass-casualty event, such as a tourist bus crash on the island’s back roads.
The objective was to strengthen overall emergency response across a range of potential threats.
Participating agencies included the Royal Montserrat Defence Force, the Royal Montserrat Police Service, Fire and Rescue Service, the Glendon Hospital disaster health team, the Montserrat Port Authority, the Montserrat Volcano Observatory, Red Cross, the Tourism Division, and the Office of the Deputy Governor.
The exercise focused on improving coordination between local responders and services and tested the island’s capabilities to respond swiftly and efficiently, as well as identifying areas for improvement.
According to facilitator and Senior Disaster Management Coordinator, Astrid Wade, a national exercise is being planned as a follow-up to this session.
He says that unlike the tabletop format, the next phase will include a practical, on-the-ground simulation, allowing agencies to physically test their response procedures in real time.