by Capt. Melonie San Pietro
Alaskan Command Public Affairs
3/25/2014 - JOINT BASE ELMENDORF-RICHARDSON, Alaska -- In
commemoration of the 50th anniversary of the 1964 9.2-magnitude Great
Alaska Earthquake, the State of Alaska will host Alaska Shield 2014 from
March 27 to April 3. Federal, state and local authorities will join
together to test interagency response in a natural disaster scenario.
Northern Command's Exercise Ardent Sentry, Joint Task Force-Alaska's
Arctic Edge and the Alaska National Guard's Exercise Vigilant Guard and
numerous other large-scale exercises will sync together under one vast
exercise umbrella, Alaska Shield, to respond to a catastrophic natural
disaster resembling the Great Alaska Earthquake.
In addition to the 10,000 Alaska-based Department of Defense assets
taking part, 1,200 are deploying in from the lower 48 to participate.
The State of Alaska, the Department of Homeland Security, Federal
Emergency Management Agency, Army and Air National Guard, Joint Task
Force-Alaska and many other federal, local and state agencies will play
major roles in the exercise.
"In real life, all of these agencies would have to work together in
response to a natural disaster, so it is important that they work
together in an exercise setting," said Richard Everson, an exercise
planner for Joint Task Force-Alaska.
"The state has had ambitious public outreach," Everson said. "The last
Alaska Shield exercise in 2010 had over 4,000 interagency participants.
We are expecting much higher numbers this year."
Not only are agencies participating, but entire communities are getting
involved. Anchorage, Cordova, Fairbanks, Homer, Kenai Peninsula Borough,
Kodiak, Juneau, and Matanuska-Susitna Borough are all heavily invested
in the exercise.
A variety of scenarios, ranging from search and rescue to hazardous
material spills to providing shelter and food for victims, are planned
across the state of Alaska in these communities each day of the
exercise.
For example, this Friday, Samaritan's Purse, an international relief
organization, will deploy its Mobile Field Hospital along with a
22-person medical team of surgeons, physicians, nurses and
anesthesiologists. Patients will arrive with simulated injuries like
broken bones and hypothermia to simulate the injuries that would occur
in an actual earthquake.
In Cordova, residents of an entire apartment building will practice a
full evacuation. A simulated earthquake will also leave the harbor in
shambles, leaving seven fishermen dead or injured. Participants will put
on their survival suits and simulate the injured or dead fishermen by
floating in the water until they are rescued.
Joint Logistics Over the Shore, or JLOTS, is a term the U.S. military
uses to describe the loading and off-loading of ships in unimproved
areas where ports are unavailable or damaged. The exercise will simulate
that the Port of Anchorage is severely damaged by an earthquake making
normal port operations impossible for immediate relief operations.
JLOTS will bring approximately 700 active-duty and Reserve Soldiers,
Sailors, Marines, and Coast Guardsmen from all over the United States,
said Everson. It will test their ability to reestablish port facilities,
offload containers, equipment and bulk supplies, and transfer, store,
and deliver fuel to the area.
According to The Great Alaska Shakeout website, an impressive 100,000
residents across Alaska have signed up to participate in the Great
Alaska Shakeout. The goal of the event is to get organizations and
families prepared for big earthquakes by practicing how to "drop, cover,
and hold on", along with other aspects of emergency planning.
The overarching Alaska Shield 2014 exercise will provide participating
organizations an opportunity to test procedures and refine the
interagency partnerships critical in all phases of response to a
catastrophic widespread natural disaster in Alaska.
It's also important to improve the ability of every resident in Alaska to respond to a natural disaster.
"Anyone remotely paying attention knows this exercise is going on," said
Everson. "Because of the media coverage that is planned throughout the
exercise, every Alaskan really has a great opportunity to learn from
Alaska Shield."
Wednesday, March 26, 2014
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