The Junta de Andalucía will carry out a large-scale emergency drill on Monday in the provinces of Málaga and Cádiz to test the response of the operational services to major disasters. It involves two practical exercises that will take place simultaneously in the municipalities of San Roque and Marbella, as part of the regional drill ‘RespuestA23’.
In the province of Málaga, an earthquake of magnitude 6.1 at a depth of five kilometres will be simulated, affecting several towns on the Costa del Sol, with Marbella among the worst affected.
In this case, the reverse 112 system will be tested in the Finca de la Trinidad area, so residents and people in this location will receive an alert message on their mobile phones saying that it is a test and that, therefore, they should neither be alarmed nor take any action. In any case, the aim is for the public to become familiar with these alert mechanisms, which help to ensure their safety and self-protection.
All messages relating to the drill will be sent in Spanish and English and will begin with the text: «SIMULACRO: POR FAVOR NO SE ALARME, SE ESTÁ REALIZANDO EL SIMULACRO RESPUESTA_23, NO ES NECESARIO QUE REALICE NINGUNA ACTUACIÓN AL RESPECTO» (DRILL: PLEASE DO NOT BE ALARMED, THE RESPUESTA_23 DRILL IS TAKING PLACE, YOU DO NOT NEED TO TAKE ANY ACTION).
During the exercise, the CEIP Mario Vargas Llosa school in Marbella will be evacuated, with around thirty extras from the IES Pérez de Guzmán in Ronda also taking part.
The exercise in the province of Málaga will also simulate an environmental pollution incident in Estepona, which will test the response capacity for protecting the coastline.
The exercise in San Roque will take place in four scenarios located in the Guadarranque Industrial Estate and its surroundings. It will begin with the report of a fire in a Cepsa tank, which will force the preventive evacuation of the population of Carteia-Guadarranque and the confinement of residents of Puente Mayorga.
The wind will cause the flames to spread, resulting in a forest fire that will affect the archaeological site of Carteia, declared a Site of Cultural Interest. The fictitious tank fire will also cause the loading hose to a ship to break and fuel to spill into the Bay of Algeciras.
In these locations, an alert message will also be received on mobile phones and, as in Marbella, the public does not need to do anything.
In both drills, an Advanced Command Post (PMA) will be set up, from where the whole emergency will be monitored and the work of the various services taking part will be coordinated. Both exercises will involve the activation of the Andalusia Territorial Emergency Plan (PTEAnd) at situation 2, regional level.
In Málaga, the Andalusia Seismic Risk Emergency Plan at provincial level, situation 2, and the Marbella Municipal Emergency Plan will also be activated, as well as the Andalusia Coastal Pollution Risk Emergency Plan (PECLA) for the simulated incident in Estepona.
In Cádiz, the municipal emergency plans of San Roque (which will also activate the Municipal Forest Fire Emergency Plan for the municipality), La Línea, Algeciras and Los Barrios will be activated; in the latter two municipalities, their local action plans for coastal pollution risk will be activated.
The drill is expected to be attended by Antonio Sanz, the Junta’s regional minister for the Presidency, Interior, Social Dialogue and Administrative Simplification. It will involve the operational teams of Emergencias Andalucía (112, Civil Protection and the Andalusia Emergency Group), Infoca, the 061 Health Emergency Centre, the National Police Unit attached to the Autonomous Community, the Military Emergencies Unit (UME), the Guardia Civil (Traffic, Seprona and the Pegaso group), and the National Police and its Scientific Unit.
Personnel from the Málaga Provincial Council and from Marbella will also take part, as well as the Cádiz Province Fire Service Consortium, together with the local police forces of Marbella, Algeciras, Los Barrios, La Línea and San Roque, Environmental Agents from the Junta and the Ministry, the Endangered Species Recovery Centre (CREA) and the Marine Species Recovery Centre, the Environmental Quality Unit, the Directorate General of Traffic (DGT), the Port Authority of the Bay of Algeciras and the Maritime Authority.
Also joining the operation will be staff from REMER, Local Civil Protection Volunteer Groups (from the town halls of Marbella, Coín, Carratraca, Istán, Monda, Teba, Ronda, Cañete la Real, Campillos, Benalmádena and Fuengirola in Málaga, and Los Barrios, Algeciras, La Línea and San Roque in Cádiz), as well as specialists from the Red Cross and the Emergency and Disaster Psychological Intervention Group (GIPED).
The deployment will also include personnel from the Atlantic Coastal Demarcation, Port Police, the Environmental Prosecutor’s Office, the Defence Sub-delegation, the Institute of Legal Medicine, and the Junta’s provincial delegations for Sustainability, Environment and Blue Economy; Development, Territorial Planning and Housing; Educational Development and Vocational Training; Health and Consumer Affairs; and Agriculture, Fisheries, Water and Rural Development, as well as the La Línea district hospital and the Punta de Europa hospital in Algeciras.
In Cádiz, the residents’ associations of Guadarranque and Puente Mayorga will also take part, along with the companies of the chemical hub, which will activate their respective emergency plans during the drill.
