EDMONTON – Alberta’s provincial government and emergency management experts are holding a three-day emergency disaster exercise Tuesday through Thursday to better prepare residents for future disasters.
This year’s simulation, called “EMX15” will be the largest of its kind in Alberta and will involve an ice storm simulation.
More than 100 members of Alberta’s disaster response team, Canada Task Force 2, will go to Thorhild north of Edmonton, said Minister of Municipal Affairs Diana McQueen. There will be a structural collapse simulated, and the team will set up a field hospital. There will also be simulations of emergencies with road closures, accidents, environmental threats and reception centres ready for “mass casualties” in eight other Albertan communities: Thorhild, Lloydminster, Airdrie, High River and the municipal district of Foothills, Raymond, Chestermere, Mayerthorpe, Lethbridge County and Radcliffe.
The exercise set in High River and Foothills is on Thursday from 11 a.m. to 1 p.m., and will include setting up a reception/evacuation centre at the Legacy Regional Field House in Aldersyde.
“Whether it be the fire that swept through the community of Slave Lake, or the states of local emergency and of course as we all know the provincial state of emergency declared during the 2013 floods, Albertans have lived through disasters and come out the other side,” said McQueen at a press conference Tuesday afternoon.
The exercise is to be repeated yearly, and will include representatives from government, First Nations, industry, emergency management, and students from NAIT’s Emergency Management course who will test their emergency plans.
The idea is to test the situation of an extreme ice storm, with scenarios set up across Alberta, including “building collapses, highway closures with stranded motorists, power outages, and train derailments.”
The government emphasized all Albertans have a role in preparing emergency kits and plans in order to be prepared for such scenarios.
You can sign up for Alberta Emergency Alerts or download an app to receive the alerts on your phone; Facebook and Twitter accounts for the alerts are also listed here. These alerts are issued by communities when a disaster or emergency is occurring, and will send you information about potential risks to health, safety or community.
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