Officials of the Port Authority conducted a simulated emergency drill at the Prince George Wharf on Thursday. This drill was a mandatory requirement of the International Ships Port Security code. Which tests the communication systems between emergency response teams and seek out deficiencies in the emergency procedures at international ports
Taking part in the drill were members of the Royal Bahamas Defence and Police Force, the customs department, The Red Cross, and Emergency response teams from the hospitals.
Minister of Transport & Aviation Glenys Hanna-Martin said that the exercise was a requirement of the International Ships and Port Security Code.
“The purpose of this exercise is to test our response and communication systems in the event of an incident that was set out today,” Minister Hanna-Martin said. “There were [pre-arranged] bombs that exploded, which lead to a number of injuries, people had to be evacuated and we were testing our communications and response to that.”
The drill began around 1:00 pm after Bay Street was blocked off, from Frederick Street to East Street, to allow ease of passage for emergency vehicles taking part in the simulation exercise to access the wharf area.
At 1:35pm a fire alarm was sounded at the Port Control Building and personnel from that building were evacuated and taken to the safety of Rawson Square. While that was going on, a massive explosion rocked The Prince George Wharf and a boat in the harbour burst into flames.
There were several explosions near the Port Control Building.
Once the area was secured, medical teams were then allowed to access the dock area and pick up wounded persons and transport them to hospital for treatment.
According to Donna Whmys who is said to be an ISPS officer, emergency response was poor and unimpressive.
She said that with terrorism being highly present in the world, there is a need to be focused and sharp when dealing with these types of matters.
“They [emergency teams] are not aware of their surroundings, that’s the number one aspect that I observed and their movements are very slow, there needs to be more brisk movement, as if something happening,” Ms. Whyms said.
Olga Meadows, another observer feels that there were a lot of unnecessary hold ups for fire fighters once they arrived at the Wharf. She believes that in a time of emergency officials should automatically allow access to the affected area.
Mrs. Meadows said that in the future there needs to be more preparations for a exercise of this nature.
“To me it looks like they did not have any meetings about this,” Mrs. Meadows said. “It didn’t look real at all. They need to prepare more.”
But Erin Bain suggested that officials not over publicize an event of this nature. She suggest that another drill be done, but only notify those that need to know about it so that all involved would really work as if it was a real emergency.
“They [Officials] need to realize that on a normal day Bay Street will be more hectic because you will not be able to control traffic the way that it was done today, ” Mrs. Bain said. “I don’t feel that it was a real life situation, it may have been in the back by the boats, but out front you would not even know if there was an emergency because no one was moving in a emergency manner.”
Article Source: Stephen Gay, The Bahama Journal
