MercoPress. South Atlantic News Agency

Falklands plans major cruise vessel emergency

HMS Edimburg

The Falkland Islands government has announced for next December 20 a major exercise to test plans, in coordination with military personnel, designed to deal with a major civilian emergency.

The exercise scenario will be a fire on a cruise ship in Port William for which FIG has been working for several months with the military personnel at Mount Pleasant.

For the purpose of the exercise, HMS Edinburgh will ?act' as the cruise ship from which passengers will be evacuated by air and sea.

Under the overall control of the Governor, the exercise will enable FIG departments to practice communication, evacuation, accommodation, healthcare, transport and feeding plans as well as testing the interface with military support.

A large number of FIG staff will be involved in the exercise and any disruption to the public will be minimised. However, services at the hospital will be inevitably disrupted; clinics and routine doctor's appointments have been cancelled but dental and podiatry services will continue as normal.

"It is essential that the government maintains a high state of readiness to deal with a wide range of disasters. This will be the most comprehensive civilian exercise for some years. It's not a test but rather an opportunity to learn how we might improve our disaster management plans and is likely to be followed by a series of smaller desktop exercises to test particular aspects of those plans", said Governor Alan Huckle.