ESFs Participate in Tabletop National Exercise
GREAT BAY, Sint Maarten (DCOMM) – Fire Chief and National Disaster Coordinator of the Office of Disaster Management (ODM) Clive Richardson, would like to commend all Emergency Support Functions (ESFs) that took part in the tabletop National Exercise (NATEX) on Thursday, November 17.
Four experts from the ongoing International Cooperation Agency of the Association of Netherlands Municipalities (VNGi) project, ‘Fostering Resilient Crisis Management (FCRM), guided the NATEX which was based on a scenario of a failure in a crude oil distillation tower that caused a major incident which resulted in the response of the 10 ESFs.
The 10 ESFs are ESF-1 NV GEBE-Water & Energy; ESF-2 Bureau Telecommunications & Port, Telecommunications; ESF-3 Ministry Public Housing, Spatial Planning, Environment and Infrastructure (VROMI), Public Works, Transport & Logistics; ESF-4 Fire Department, Hazard Response Activities; ESF-5 Police, Public Order, Safety, Traffic Regulation; ESF-6 Ministry Public Health, Social Development & Labor (VSA), Public Health & Medical Assistance; ESF-7 Social Development, Evacuation, Shelters, Relief & Mass Care; ESF-8 Department of Communication (DCOMM); ESF-9 Ministry of General Affairs, Governmental Affairs; ESF-10 Ministry of Economic Affairs, Tourism, Transport & Telecommunications (TEATT), Harbor, Airport & Hotel Activities.
The tabletop exercise focused on roles within the ESF with respect to enhancing knowledge and/or competencies on crisis management; decision making using the PPADAC (Procedure, Perception, Analysis, Decisions, Action, Control) methodology in crisis meetings; and roles in the Emergency Operations Center (EOC) meeting with respect to train/developing the process of information management within ESFs and to/from the EOC.
The objective of the FRCM project is the further development of processes and procedures within the crisis management system of Sint Maarten; create an escalation structure within the current system; setup a train-the-trainer program; and develop a process of information management.
VNG International is the International Cooperation Agency of the Association of Netherlands Municipalities.
The four experts are part of the Resilience Advisors Network (RAN) which is a group of more than 100 practitioners who come together to form expert project teams.
The Network will tackle any project, large or small, as long as it's designed to strengthen community, locality or infrastructure resilience from disasters and emergencies.
Advisors come from a broad range of emergency service and disaster management-related backgrounds, most holding senior positions in Emergency Management, Rescue Service, or Civil Contingency authorities.
Formed in 2015, RAN operates through companies and offices around the world and is particularly active in Europe, Asia, and the Middle East.
