Operation ensures robust emergency response in place
AN EMERGENCY exercise in Jersey has helped ensure that response plans in the Bailiwick are as robust as possible.
Senior staff from Guernsey's harbour, the States and the emergency services, have all now returned from what was the largest major incident exercise to date in the Channel Islands.
They travelled over to Jersey, where the operation was organised and carried out, last week to shadow their counterparts and prepare for a potential disaster at sea.
Over the course of four days, 100 actors, two ships, the entire emergency services, a variety of different agencies from Jersey and all of the staff from Guernsey took part in Operation Resilient Islands – a simulated exercise in which a ferry crashed into an anchored cruise liner carrying 4,000 passengers.
It saw situations such as Fire & Rescue teams boarding burning boats, mass evacuations of vessels and disaster victim identification officers recovering any 'fatalities' all taking place.
Guernsey's harbourmaster, Captain Chad Murray, was shadowing his Jersey equivalent.
'It was a really useful exercise, I am very grateful to Jersey for inviting us to participate so we could really understand all the elements,' he said.
