It is an inter-institutional effort to strengthen and measure the national and regional capacities of civil protection, health, and comprehensive disaster risk management in the face of adverse phenomena. Today, at a press conference, the first multi-threat drill in Panama and the third was announced. in the region with the participation of invited countries such as: Canada, Mexico, the United States, Argentina, Israel, South Korea, El Salvador, Guatemala, Honduras, Costa Rica, Nicaragua and the Dominican Republic.
By Executive Decree; The Minister of Government, Roger Tejada, announced the development of the regional drill that will bring together in our country about a thousand specialists in rescue, search, salvage, logistics, planning, operations, doctors, emergency medical technicians, risk management, hazardous materials, firefighting, security and evaluators, among others. They will have the responsibility of drawing up an ambitious plan that will also strengthen civil-military relations with the Humanitarian Rescue Units (UHR).
Minister Tejada reiterated that this is a strictly simulated exercise that will take place in various scenarios in the provinces of Panama, Colón, Darién, Los Santos, Panama Oeste and Chiriquí under the leadership of the National Civil Protection System (SINAPROC), Force of Joint Task and technical cooperation from the Coordination Center for the Prevention of Disasters in Central America and the Dominican Republic (CEPREDENAC).
During the drill, different activities will be carried out that seek to promote and strengthen the culture of prevention and response to risk, emergencies or disasters, where the most valuable resource in the face of a catastrophe is response time, said Carlos Rumbo, general director of SINAPROC.
He reported that some 32,805 students from the educational centers of Herrera, Colón, Coclé, Darién, Chiriquí, Panama, Panama West and Veraguas will carry out an evacuation exercise to measure their school emergency plans.
Yasmín Delgado, head of Planning for the regional drill, explained that “We will have multiple scenarios, mainly caused by the manifestation of a 7.5 earthquake in Panama City, which will cause collapsed structures, structural fires, among others; as well as the hypothetical passage of a tropical wave No. 10, which will cause river overflows, trapped people and landslides in the provinces of Chiriquí, Colón, Darién and Panama”.
The drill will allow the recreation of a large-magnitude earthquake and practice mitigation exercises in which special equipment and tools will be used, plus monitoring and early warning technology. The resistance of the rescuers will be put to the test, which is why they will carry out a search, location and rescue exercise in collapsed structures that will last 36 hours, in the Amador Causeway, Panama City. A biological risk of Avian Flu (H5N1) with suspected cases in West Panama, a cyberattack, directed in the strategic operational area with technological failures and a hydrocarbon spill in the storage tanks under the Las Américas bridge.
It is expected that between June 13 and 14, 2023, due to the hypothetical catastrophe and in pursuit of the international appeal, more than 500 brigade members from El Salvador, Guatemala, Honduras, Costa Rica, Nicaragua and the Dominican Republic will mobilize for Panama.
