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Earthquake drill in Mexico City P
ublic safety organizations, civil protection agencies and public transport officials in Mexico City took
part in a major exercise earlier this year to test their response to an earthquake disaster. For the simulated earthquake, measuring 8·1 on the Richter scale, Sepura radios were installed in Mexico City Police’s command and control centre – the official crisis room for disaster recovery co-ordination – run by the capital’s head of government and the chief of police. Te aim was to test response times and evaluate the adequacy and speed of deployment of resources. Te co-ordinating authority, the Secretaría
de Seguridad Pública del Distrito Federal (SSP-DF), decided to carry out this large scale drill following the powerful earthquake which struck Chile in February. Mexico City has experienced many similar earthquakes, the latest being the destructive 1985 quake.
Simulating disaster SSP-DF deployed multiple command positions using Sepura’s SRG mobile gateway radios in the command centre in Plaza Tlaxcoaque, in the historic heart of Mexico City. During the drill, response teams were dispatched to a variety of simulated emergencies: a collapsed bridge, a metro train crash and even the
Preparing for the worst – the well-equipped police command centre in Mexico City
destruction of the Angel, the city’s famous monument to independence. Te overall operation lasted over two hours and was declared a complete success by all the public safety organizations and agencies involved. “Preparing for and dealing with major
disaster recovery operations in a megalopolis like Mexico City with over 20 million inhabitants requires co-ordination at the highest level”, commented engineer Edgar González Cruz, of
SSP-DF. “Tere are no words to convey the vital importance of communications between the control centre and all parties involved in events of such a scale. “We need the peace of mind that the communication equipment we use is fit for purpose, reliable and will ultimately enable us to save as many lives as possible in the devastating circumstances of a major natural disaster like a high magnitude earthquake.”
Local authorities subscribe to digital efficiencies
ot only the ‘blue light’ emergency services are benefiting from the Airwave mobile radio network in the UK. Increasingly, local authorities are using the service too, Airwave reports. With their TETRA radios, council officials can now talk to each other and can liaise more easily with agencies such as the police. When managing operations, whether planned or unplanned, fewer people need to attend the scene – and the result is better use of time and resources. Brent Council, in north-west London, finds that it has redeemed its original investment in Airwave through no longer having to set up a control room to manage lower-level incidents. It achieved this saving by delegating management of incidents to personnel at the scene who use the Airwave service to co-ordinate with colleagues and the police.
N “We previously relied on mobile phones,
but with the Airwave service we gained near- instant communication and could involve lots of colleagues or other agencies such as the police”, said Rob Walley, chairman of the Multi Agency Airwave User Group and former civil protection manager for Brent Council. “We found it helped us to manage operations more easily, and interoperability with the police was much easier. “Because it changed the way we worked,
we were able to rely less on a control room to co-ordinate activity and instead use resources more effectively, involving the right people in the right way. It’s difficult to quantify, but this has helped us save money and to work more effectively.” A survey by Brent Council found that using
the Airwave service had resulted in faster communication for routine issues, improved responses to requests for council personnel
Issue 1 November 2010 - February 2011 TE TRA TODAY
and resources, and enhanced management of incidents requiring a multi-agency response.
Working smarter “Local authorities are having to balance the need to manage costs while delivering high quality public services”, commented David Sangster, director of UK Services at Airwave. “This means working smarter and managing precious resources more effectively. Airwave is now working with over 130 local authorities, helping them to co-ordinate their teams during routine and non-routine incidents, as well as to liaise more closely with other Airwave service users such as the police.” n Local authority customers in Britain use Airwave Direct, a managed service which provides access to the network plus a choice of terminals and comprehensive support.
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