Hampshire fort will be scene of earthquake emergency plan
As earthquakes go, Hampshire isn't exactly a hot-spot.
But the county will take a central role in a four-day emergency planning exercise to see how the authorities would cope with a catastrophic quake.
This September, Fort Widley on Portsdown Hill will be the scene of a live exercise, while a strategic command will also be set up at Netley to co-ordinate the operation.
The event aims to replicate a quake striking simultaneously across the UK, with similar exercises taking place at the same time in Hertfordshire, Lincolnshire and Merseyside.
Emergency services will take the lead in Exercise Orion during the immediate aftermath of the incident for the 'response' phase.
The police will then hand over to local authorities to tackle the 'recovery' phase.
Councillor Arthur Mandry, who is in charge of public protection matters for Fareham Borough Council, said: 'We've had a lot of these sorts of exercises.
'The fact they've chosen an earthquake is almost incidental - the same principles apply whatever the situation, but there are a lot of variations on a theme.
'You could build all sorts of scenarios, whether it's a downed plane or an oil fire.
'It's about looking after people, getting them means of communication, getting the sick to doctors.
'In a scenario like this, I suspect there would damage to building and infrastructure like gas, oil, electricity and things like highways being fractured.
'They will usually throw in a couple of spokes in the middle of the exercise to make sure the plans work.'
The exercise will be run by the Hampshire and Isle of Wight Local Resilience Forum, which includes members from the emergency services, local authorities and any other organisations who would be involved in an emergency.
Although about 200 earthquakes occur in the UK each year, the majority of these cannot even be felt by humans.
The last major quake recorded was on February 27, 2008 at Market Rasen in Lincolnshire, measuring 5.4 on the Richter scale.
It caused structural damage to many buildings and although no-one was killed a 19-year-old man suffered a broken pelvis when a piece of chimney crashed through his roof and on to his bed where he was sleeping. It was even felt on the south coast.
Other notable recent quakes include one on September 23, 2002 at Dudley measuring 4.7 and April 28, 2007 at Folkestone, Kent measuring 4.3.
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Friday 25 May 2012
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