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A powerful earthquake has struck Moldova. The rescue services are facing a string of
emergencies all at once. Near the capital Chisinau an oil depot has
caught fire. Local fire fighters are quick on the scene.
But the effects of this earthquake are too great for one country to deal with alone.
Moldova has requested foreign assistance. An international relief operation is underway.
Luckily this is just an exercise. It’s called CODRII 2011. It’s organized by NATO and
hosted this year by Moldova.
“Altogether there are around 1.300 people involved in the exercise. We have participating
teams with equipment and vehicles from 22 countries and several international organizations
like NATO, UN OCHA, OPCW, the Red Cross.”
The exercise is organized annually by NATO’s EURO-ATLANTIC DISASTER RESPONSE COORDINATION
CENTER. It’s aim is to enhance cooperation and coodination between nations and international
organizations and to bridge differences. Civil Protection and Emergency Services, Moldova
“The differences in language, in culture, the differences in the procedure they use
and the equipment. So basically the interoperability issues are something that we exercise during
this event.”
The relief operation is coordinated from this base camp. Here the directing staff pull the
strings of the exercise. They set off the scenarios and assign the rescue teams.
This team has come all the way from Azerbaijan to train in a multi-national setting. With
their search and rescue capability they’re being dispatched to the site of a collapsed
hospital.
Meanwhile we join a convoy headed to a railway line where a train has derailed and another
with dangerous chemicals on board has caught fire.
When we arrive at the site the fire has already been put out, but toxic chemicals have been
released into the air.
The area has been cordoned off and an Estonian team is on site to measure the air quality.
The first responders who dealt with the incident must be decontaminated. International assessors
watch every step to later make recommendations to improve inter-operability.
“We’re here on site to carry out assessment, to give any feedback on the training and feed
that back to the team leaders. So if there’s anything that can be improved, we like to
highlight the good work that’s been done, and if there’s any areas for improvement
we can talk about those when we debrief them.”
Meanwhile a group of journalism students have arrived on the scene to simulate the media’s
role in this scenario.
“At this point you should be getting more information. So we’ll ask him what information
he has, when’s the next update going to be.”
The authorities must practice informing the media as fast as possible while also keeping
them out of harms way.
“He gave them the reason why the media couldn’t go in and it was clearly because of the safety
of the media. But hed did tell them that they will release information further. This is
what the media wants. All of the on-site commanders had training prior to the exercise kick-off
and I think the ahead training, the media training, not just for the exercise commanders
but for all of the crews, was invaluable.”
At the next site there is plenty of real media, as Moldova’s prime minister has come to
watch the exercise. He’s told there are passengers inside a
derailed train. A team from Israel lifts the carriage, while teams from Kazachstan and
Georgia work together to free those trapped inside the wreckage.
There’s nothing new about this type of multi-national team work, but what does surprise many is
that NATO is involved in disaster response training. Guenther Bretschneider NATO’s
exercise director explains. “You’re right you would not expect NATO
to get involved in a scenario like this, but don’t forget that NATO is a military alliance
but has always had a policy to respond also to natural disasters. And this dates back
actually to 1953 when the Netherlands and Belgium experienced storm induced floods and
the alliance was challenged to help the two countries to respond to those disasters. And
ever since NATO had a responsibility to improve preparedness for civil protection.”
The prime minister is impressed by what he sees and when it comes time to fly the injured
to hospital, all part of the exercise, he’s in the front seat.
“For me it is important to see and to feel and I would like to say that I am proud that
we are able to organize this exercise and I am proud that representatives from 34 countries
and another 7 international institutions are able to work together and to do what is necessary
when something goes wrong.” It’s the 13th time that NATO has organized
this exercise since 2000 under the partnership for peace programme. The scenarios range from
natural disasters to terrorist attacks. While the United Nations take the lead role in such
international operations, NATO’s EADRCC has worked closely with the UN in more than
50 relief operations around the world. I’m Mike Muehlberger reporting for the NATO
Channel from Chisinau, Moldova.