What would we do if an earthquake rocked the south?
THESE will be the scenes of devastation as a simulated earthquake hits the Portsmouth area today.
Twenty fire engines will descend on Fort Widley to rescue 600 'casualties' as they are trapped in a collapsed apartment block and on a crumbling motorway bridge.
The practice rescue, called Exercise Orion, is aiming to bring together a number of emergency services from across Europe to see how Britain would cope with an earthquake.
Over the past few months, Hampshire Fire and Rescue service has been recreating catastrophic scenes at the fort on Portsdown Hill.
The 'earthquake' has left a retirement home a pile of rubble and more than 150 firefighters will have to work out how to rescue people from it.
A damaged oil facility will also cause mayhem for the rescuers.
Peter Crook, exercise director from Hampshire Fire and Rescue Specialist Response Unit, said: 'We will be delighted when it's finished.
'It's going to be an amazing experience.
'It's the first time there has been anything on this scale in the UK.
'We have seven fully-equipped teams coming from around the world.
'I have not known that happen anywhere else in the world.
'The challenge is to make sure they are kept busy for the next two or three days.'
The event, funded by an EU grant, 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 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.
European teams participating include Denmark, Germany, Italy, Norway, Spain and Sweden, as well as a search and rescue crew from the United Arab Emirates.
A total 500 rescuers will be working round-the-clock to recover casualties.
Hundreds of dummies have been buried beneath the rubble.
Firefighters will also have to rescue volunteers who are trapped.
Mr Crook, who was sent to an earthquake disaster in Indonesia last year, said: 'It's very difficult to simulate.
'When you go somewhere like Haiti or Indonesia, there are multiple collapsed structures on a huge scale.
'We have done what we can on a small scale.'
About 200 earthquakes occur in the UK each year, but 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 damaged many buildings, but no lives were lost.
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Weather for Portsmouth
Saturday 26 May 2012
Today
Sunny
Temperature: 13 C to 24 C
Wind Speed: 24 mph
Wind direction: East
Tomorrow
Sunny
Temperature: 12 C to 21 C
Wind Speed: 15 mph
Wind direction: South
