Exercise Planning

One way to become familiar with the effects of disaster, and the tasks to be performed in order to reduce impacts, is to conduct exercises. These are simulations of real events, which are carried out under controlled conditions. The main kinds of exercise are tabletop, command center (or command post), emergency procedures (functional exercises), and full-scale field operations. Exercises may also be known as drills.

Tabletop exercises are conducted indoors and may involve interaction among participants or interaction between players and electronic equipment (computers, whiteboards, and touch-sensitive screens) in some form of virtual-reality environment. Command center exercises recreate the process of command, control, and communications with respect to the directing role of an operations center. Typically, they may last three to six hours. They are usually conducted using telecommunications and involve simulating a stressful environment in which decisions about resource allocation and the solutions to pressing problems have to be taken in real time.

Emergency procedures and functions are usually tested under field conditions, either in real environments or physical recreations in outdoor or indoor laboratories. They can include tests of mass evacuation plans, command protocols, and emergency actions. Field exercises are designed to simulate the full-scale emergency situation at outdoor sites, and are usually conducted in places where disasters or crises are likely to happen.

According to the U.S. Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA), an exercise is “an activity designed to promote preparations for emergency situations in order to test operations, policies, plans, procedures or equipment, or to demonstrate the capability to respond to a crisis.” It creates a situation in which participants are required to function, to a greater or lesser degree, as they would in a real event. A balance must be struck between achieving realism and creating a good environment for learning and testing plans and procedures, a balance between piling on the stress and creating a tranquil environment for systematic learning. Exercises must not put the health and safety of participants unduly at risk. Field exercises should always include a safety officer who has the power to stop the proceedings if risks become excessive, and medical staff to intervene if injuries occur.

Special conditions may prevail in international exercises. The host country will design and command the simulation, possibly in collaboration with international institutions such as the United Nations (UN) and the European Union (EU). Special arrangements may be arranged for foreign emergency responders. These may cover accommodation, local transportation, linguistic translation, and the use of common command procedures. For example, in 2007, an exercise entitled Mesimex brought rescuers from six countries to Mount Vesuvius in southern Italy. A real explosive eruption of Vesuvius, whose flanks have a population of 650,000 people, would necessitate a pan-European response.