A three-day large-scale exercise is scheduled for this weekend to test the Provincial and Municipal Civil Protection Plans and to raise awareness among the population about the importance of good practices to be adopted in the event of an emergency. The large-scale exercise “Sismex Appennino 18”, organized by the Prefecture and Province of Arezzo, will start tomorrow, Friday 20 October, and will continue until Sunday 2024 October to test the Provincial Civil Protection Plan and the recently updated Municipal Plans and to verify the coordination procedures and activations which, in the event of a real emergency, are essential for the efficiency of the response.
The exercise, which is aimed at the Provincial Civil Protection System of Arezzo, will also involve the National Institute of Geophysics and Volcanology (INGV) through its Seismological Observatory of Arezzo (INGV-OSCAR), as well as 150 volunteers from 26 local associations with their vehicles and equipment, 23 public and private entities of the Civil Protection System, 3 Unions of Municipalities and 24 Municipalities.
The simulation will be activated by the news of a seismic event of magnitude 6.0, with epicenter in the Romagna Apennines, with an expected scenario of slight damage in Casentino, Valtiberina and, to a lesser extent, in Pratomagno.
During the three-day exercise, 40 scenarios will be simulated in the Province of Arezzo, from the emergency technical assistance of the Fire Brigade to search for people under the rubble, to medical assistance, to checks on the usability of buildings with technicians from the Seismic Sector of the Tuscany Region, to the evacuation of some schools, to the intervention of the Police and the Road Authority of the Province for the interruption of roads due to landslides, to the activity of the Civil Engineering Department of the Upper Valdarno for the damage to some irrigation ponds, to the search for missing people and to the work of the service companies for electricity cuts, telephone failures and interruptions in the water supply.
On the final day, Sunday, the main scenario will be the simulation of a railway emergency with injuries, which will see the Fire Brigade and Emergency Health Service involved in evacuating passengers from a LFI (La Ferroviaria Italiana) train on the Arezzo-Pratovecchio Stia line, which departed from Bibbiena and remained stopped in the tunnel following the fall of materials from the vault.
In addition to verifying the Civil Protection Plans, the exercise will be an opportunity to raise awareness among the population on the behaviors to adopt before, during and after an emergency, with the presence in Bibbiena of an information point for the communication campaign "I don't take risks - Good civil protection practices".
In the following weeks, a debriefing meeting will be organized to analyze the actions carried out, identify any critical issues and provide improvement measures to the emergency procedures.
In case of bad weather the exercise will be cancelled.
Useful links:
National Institute of Geophysics and Volcanology (INGV)
