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Government departments and agencies have just successfully completed a series of multi-agency exercises designed to test their preparedness and response to a wide range of incidents that may occur during next month's Hong Kong Ministerial Conference of the World Trade Organization.
The series of exercises, the first of which started on September 23, were planned by the Security Bureau's Exercise Planning Team consisting of officers with wide-ranging experience in emergency and crisis management.
A total of 44 government departments and agencies took part in the fifth and biggest command-post exercise in the series, which was completed late last night (November 18). Some 25 departmental/agency emergency control centres were activated at multiple locations throughout Hong Kong during the exercise.
Various scenarios were simulated in the exercise to test the workability and effectiveness of key departmental response plans, the interface compatibility of existing departmental communication systems and the interface between a control Multi-Agency Coordination Centre and existing departmental command and control systems.
"This is the biggest joint exercise that the Government has ever conducted.
"It has provided a good opportunity for relevant departments and agencies to practise their response to incidents of varying degrees of seriousness and to identify areas for improvement," a government spokesman said.
Ends/Saturday, November 19, 2005
Issued at HKT 10:55
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