This morning at around 10:00, it looked like some kind of war zone, or a mass casualty event at the intersection of Neal Penn Road and Central American Boulevard in Belize City. Police, the Fire Department, BERT Ambulance teams, and other emergency personnel converged on the area for about an hour.
They commandeered that part of the City to carry out a simulation exercise to test the readiness response of these key agencies. The reaction times of these organizations could mean the difference between life and death for accident or shooting victims, and so, the Belize City Council wanted to be certain that they are ready for the road.
7News was there for the exercise, and Daniel Ortiz reports:
Daniel Ortiz reportigng
2 people clinging to life from gunshot injuries they supposedly only just suffered, or a deadly road traffic accident where the occupants are trapped inside the wreckage of their respective vehicles and have no way to get medical help.
These are but a few of the spontaneous emergencies where first responders may be called upon to provide aid to badly injured victims. And, the Bernard Wagner City Council Administration wanted to see first hand just how coordinated and snappy the national emergency response is.
Michael Noralez - City Councillor, City Emergency Management
"The purpose is to see how quickly and how well the agencies that work with us, and work in this city, how quickly they could respond to any emergency at any given time. We are here making chronicles of the time that each agency responded after getting a call."
Reporter
"What are the different emergencies that you have simulated here?"
Michael Noralez
"Well, we have a fatality, 2 gunshots, and not dying, and other one was fatal. And then, almost simultaneously, we had an accident at the corner of Neal Penn Road and Central American Boulevard. So, we just wanted to see how well and the resources that would have been expended to be here with us."
Deltrude Hilton - City Councillor, Public Health
"Getting everybody ready for today's simulation was not hard. We had a meeting, myself and Mr. Javier Canul, from ABC Training. And we did this simulation because for years, we have been working at BERT Ambulance, and we know that every year around this time, we do this. So it was just for us to send out a letter after we met, to discuss discuss what we were going to do, and we sent out letters to the different emergency systems, as well as to the different parties that should be involved. And within a day, they all responded to us and said it's a go."
For now, these Councillors are very satisfied with the quick response from the different agencies that would have needed to deploy had this been a real emergency.
Michael Noralez
"This being my first experience, I would say that the different agencies, they responded as quickly as they could, and I would still give them maybe a B+ or an A, simply because controlling a crowd by the police is difficult, especially for people who have no idea what was going to happen. We also - Councillor Hilton and myself - we had to act as police officers for a while, just to ask people, please don't do this. Don't do that, don't come a cross. So, as far as I'm concerned yes, and then you have the Fire Department, and then BERT. To me, they were here on time."
Deltrude Hilton - City Councillor, Public Health
"I can say that I am satisfied with it. Even though we have a little flaws now and again, but we're all human beings, and we can't expect to be perfect. But the response time is good. And the way they reacted when they were out here, I cannot complain."
These agencies carry out simulations like this one every few months.
Email
Print