Mock shake up puts Community to the test
On September 29, Vancouver Community staff participated in a Functional Emergency Exercise. The mock scenario was based on a 6.5-magnitude earthquake with its epicentre in central Georgia Strait. Power was intermittent and staff and clients were injured during the mock emergency.
As part of this Functional Exercise, the following components of the emergency plan were tested:
EOC director leads a briefing in the Emergency Operations Centre.
- Set up of the VC Emergency Operations Centre (EOC)
- Set up of Incident Command Posts
- Command, control & reporting structure of VC
- Roles, responsibilities and forms
- Communication between site(s) and the EOC
A total of 41 staff participated at different sites, including:
- Raven Song Community Health Centre
- Primary Outreach Services
- George Pearson Centre
- Mock Incident Command Post
- Emergency Operations Centre
Practicing this kind of exercise allows us to test and improve our procedures and readiness.
This Functional Emergency Exercise was one of the events planned in the lead up to the Great British Columbia ShakeOut Drill on October 16. A large earthquake can hit our region at any time. This means we must all do our part and be prepared. Vancouver Community staff members are reminded that they should personally be prepared by having a personal or family emergency plan developed and have emergency supplies on hand. To help staff, Health Emergency Management BC has a series of resources to help you and your family get prepared.
Thank you to everybody who participated in this exercise, it was a great success!