Head down to RFK Stadium tomorrow from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. for a rousing day of full-scale disaster practice. According to a release, the public is invited to “Exercise to Prepare City for Catastrophic, Mass Casualty Event and to Test Mega Shelters, Mobile Morgue, and Interoperability Capabilities.”
Can’t wait to find out what the disaster will be. Earthquake? Hurricane? Tornado? Zombies?
Release below:
WHAT/WHO: As part of the National Preparedness Month (NPM) activities, the Homeland Security and Emergency Management Agency (HSEMA), is sponsoring a city-wide full-scale Natural Disaster Exercise involving all District government agencies and departments. Several Federal government agencies and non-government partners will also participate. The Federal agencies include Office of Personnel Management (OPM), Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA), Department of Homeland Security (DHS), Joint Forces Headquarters – Military District of Washington and the DC National Guard. Some of the non-government partners include American Red Cross- National Capital Area, Court Services and Offender Supervision Agency (CSOSA), DC Criminal Justice Coordinating Council (CJCC), DC Water, Destination DC, George Washington University/Consortium of Universities, Golden Triangle BID, Greater Washington Board of Trade, Hotel Association of DC and PEPCO.The exercises will test the capabilities of mobile command vehicles; mobile morgue; de-con units; mega-shelter operations (mass care and feeding); interoperability (radio communications); and mass prophylaxis (dispensing medicine/vaccinations).
WHEN: Wednesday, September 28, 2011
9:00 a.m. – 5:00 p.m.
10:00 a.m. – 12 Noon – Media Opp of full-scale exercise at RFK Stadium Lot 8WHERE: RFK Stadium – Disaster exercise site
2400 East Capital Street, SE
And
HSEMA Emergency Operations Center (EOC) – Response/Recovery coordination site
2720 Martin Luther King Jr., Avenue SEBACKGROUND: The full-scale emergency disaster exercise is the capstone event in an HSEMA-sponsored city-wide District Response Exercise Series. The goal of the exercise series is to prepare the government to respond to all-hazards events that could occur in the District.
This exercise will build upon the successes of the previous exercises and utilize a Category 2 hurricane direct strike on the District of Columbia. District agencies will utilize the recently revised 2011 District Response Plan and participate in recovery activities.
Photo by flegelle via Flickr/Creative Commons Attribution 2.0 Generic License