Today, October 16, it took place an exercise for Command Posts called NORTHERN TIDESA, organized by the Regional Civil Protection Agency of the Lazio Region in agreement with the Prefecture of Rome, the National Department of Civil Protection and the coastal Municipalities of the province.
The exercise is part of the activities of the National Civil Protection Weekpromoted by the DPC.
MAREMOTO NORD was born with the aim of testing the national warning system of SiAM platform (National alert system for tsunamis generated by earthquakes), the activation and communication flows between the various operating Structures that have to manage the emergency and the intervention models of the individual Municipalities involved.
During the morning, one was simulated emergency situation connected to a tsunami generated by an earthquake Magnitude 7.0, west of Ustica, whose realistic scenario was generated by INGV-CAT.
In addition to the Regional Agency and the Prefecture of Rome, the Police Forces, the Port Authority, the ASL, the ARES118 and the Municipalities of Civitavecchia, Santa Marinella, Tolfa, Cerveteri, Fiumicino, Rome took part in the exercise Capital, Pomezia, Ardea, Anzio and Nettuno, for a total of about 100 people who interacted to better manage the event.
All 9.07 Orange alert message has arrived (Advisory) which predicted after about 30/40 minutes the arrival of anomalous waves that would have flooded portions of coastal areas on which bathing establishments, road systems, and residential and productive areas weigh, based on Tsunami Risk Maps produced on a national scale by ISPRA .
Once the alert message was received, the Municipalities simulated the alert to the population and then actually activated their Municipal Operations Centers (COC), communicating to the Prefecture and the Regional Operations Room the immediate needs following the first damage assessments and evacuation of the population. At the same time, the Rescue Coordination Center was activated in the Prefecture (CCS), coordinated by the Prefect of Rome, which managed the emergency phases and the emergency actions that were requested by an Exercise Room (EXCON) conducted by the Agency.
After the first warning message, between 9.24 and 9.58 another 2 messages confirming the event were sent to the Administrations and Bodies which had to report on the methods of intervention model and assistance to the population.
At 11.30 the END OF EVENT message was sent and the exercise ended at 12.30.
“Exercises like this – accurate Luigi D'Angelo, Emergency Operations Director of the National Department – are fundamental for the entire National Civil Protection Service: it is in testing the procedures that the civil protection plans take concrete shape and can be updated, making them increasingly effective in emergencies.”
“The Agency - Explains Carmelo Tulumello, Director of the Regional Civil Protection Agency - in this month of October it was engaged in two exercises for Command Posts which demonstrated how important it is to stimulate Local Authorities to grow the culture of prevention and the culture of civil protection, even in a particularly complex period such as the current one for the contemporary presence of the pandemic emergency”.
“The exercise - highlights Antonio Colombi, Organizer of Maremoto Nord and Official of the Regional Civil Protection Agency - served to make the Municipalities involved understand what must be done for correct management of the tsunami risk, and of the risks in general on their territory, but also to test the alert flows and communications between all the structures involved, which, for a event like this, require extreme speed and remarkable efficiency”.
"It was a very important exercise to verify the flow of information that would be activated in the event of a tsunami warning in Italy - concludes Alessandro Amato, head of the INGV Tsunami Warning Center - We have simulated a magnitude 7 earthquake in the southern Tyrrhenian Sea, capable of generating a tsunami that would reach the coasts of Lazio in about half an hour. It is essential to conduct these tests for the Italian coasts, all exposed, to a greater or lesser extent, to the tsunami risk. For this reason we are launching, together with the DPC, the UNESCO procedures for the attribution of the 'Tsunami Ready' certificate to some pilot municipalities in Italy”.
The MARREMOTO NORD exercise continues an exercise and prevention activity on tsunami risk that the Lazio Region started in October 2019 with a similar exercise aimed at the coastal municipalities of the Province of Latina. In the coming months, a third and final exercise will be held for the province of Viterbo.