George Town, Nov 4, 2005 (GIS) - The Cayman Islands Airports Authority (CIAA) is planning its biennial airport emergency exercise for Tuesday, 8 November, and the public is advised to expect some unusual activity at and in the vicinity of the Owen Roberts International Airport.

This year’s exercise, Operation Rescue, will be water-based, involving all local emergency response agencies. The scenario will be a crash on take-off into the North Sound. The “passengers” will consist of volunteers from Cayman Airways, the Fire Services, CI Watersports Association and other agencies.

Emergency response teams will set up a staging area on the Grand Harbour shoreline from where they will launch their rescue efforts. The Fire Services will use the opportunity to test some of their specialized rescue equipment, such as a 50-person rescue raft, while the Health Services Authority’s medical emergency response teams will check their field procedure will setting up a triage area. Government Information Services will coordinate public information needs, and will establish a press information point at the scene.

CIAA Senior Manager of Airport Operations Kerith McCoy said assessing the Authority’s and other agencies’ emergency response procedures are vital to disaster preparedness: “Operations Rescue will test our communication procedures and the coordination of all agencies’ actions. In addition we will be able to gauge the quality of participating agencies’ individual response plans as well as our ability to disseminate information to the public and other stakeholders.”

A post-exercise critique will be held to determine the effectiveness of the testing system itself, Mr. McCoy added.

CEO of the CIAA, Mr. David Frederick explained: "For us to minimize the damaging effects of an aircraft emergency it is necessary to formulate test procedures that will realistically apply to and test the abilities of all services and agencies that will be involved in an emergency, such as the airlines, air traffic services, rescue and fire services, police, security services, the hospitals, and communication providers. We apologize to the public for any inconveniences caused as a result of this essential event, however, the benefits far outweigh such temporary inconveniences."

The chosen emergency scenario has already been tested early in October with a successful tabletop exercise that involved all agencies. The full Operation Rescue will start at 9:30 am on Tuesday, 8 November, and is anticipated to be completed around noon. The debriefing will follow the next day.

Contact: Cornelia Olivier
Direct line: (345) 244-1762
Tel: (345) 949-8092
Fax: (345) 949-5936, 946-0664
E-mail address: cornelia.olivier@gov.ky
Official Government Website: www.gov.ky