The CREVEX23 crisis and evacuation exercise in Muuga is centrally coordinated by the Government Office and organised by the Estonian Rescue Board. It is the largest complex exercise in Estonia’s recent history, focusing primarily on large-scale evacuation, crisis communication, and large-scale rescue operations. The exercise will involve several public authorities, the private sector, the local governments of Viimsi, Jõelähtme, Maardu, Saue, and Tallinn, and 1,100 volunteers. The exercise takes place during 31 consecutive hours.
“The Estonian Rescue Board is engaging in three types of exercises – rescue, threat alerts, and evacuation, but the main challenge for us is evacuation, as we have not been able to practise it before. The 1,100 volunteers taking part in the exercise are invaluable because we can become proficient only by training. The Estonian Rescue Board develops its capabilities on a daily basis, but exercises are essential to test ourselves and find bottlenecks,” says Margo Klaos, Director General of the Estonian Rescue Board.
Klaos pays tribute to all the parties who have been working hard for several years to prepare for the exercise. “Making such a national exercise a success is a big job. I am pleased that we found good partners for the exercise. Some even joined us later in the process. Cooperation between authorities makes Estonia a safer place.”
The scenario of the exercise involves fuel trains colliding in Muuga and catching fire. In addition to a major fire, there is an additional risk of explosion, forcing residents to evacuate. We will test the organisation of a large-scale evacuation of both the Muuga harbour and the area adjacent to the hazard.
Over a thousand volunteers have been recruited to play the role of evacuees. No local resident will have to actually leave their home. With the help of role-players, the evacuation of 1,000 civilians, including from schools and welfare institutions, will be tested and the organisation of assembly points and shelters will be played out. The role-players will have an exciting experience and make an important contribution to the success of the exercise.
During the exercise, the transmission of a threat alert will also be played out in real life. This means that text messages (EE-ALARM) with information about the exercise will be sent to people in the area of danger, a radio and TV warning will be broadcast via the channels of Estonian Public Broadcasting, and sirens will sound in the area of danger (the Muuga area).
The alert is part of the exercise and there is no need to react!
“CREVEX is a major exercise involving both local and national government and the key to its success is cooperation. We want to test whether the plans on paper actually work in real life and what exactly we have to face when dealing with an emergency of this scale,” says Marti Magnus, the head of the exercise.
The focus of the exercise will be on large-scale evacuation in particular, but also on the functioning of crisis communication and rescue operations, says Magnus. “We are playing out a very dark scenario where as many bad circumstances as possible coincide. In real life, such a chain of events would be unlikely but not impossible,” he adds.
Participants of the exercise include the Estonian Rescue Board, the Police and Border Guard Board, Tallinn Emergency Medical Service, North Estonia Medical Centre, Port of Tallinn, including companies located in the port of Muuga, the municipalities of Maardu, Viimsi, Tallinn, Jõelähtme, and Saue, as well as the Defence League, the Women’s Voluntary Defence Organisation, the Defence Forces, the Health Board, the Social Insurance Board, the Ministry of the Interior, the Ministry of Social Affairs, and the Government Office.
The broader aim of CREVEX is to raise both national and public awareness of crisis preparedness, to test new and existing emergency communication channels, and to practice emergency response.
The exercise takes place on 28–29 September. Large-scale field activities will take place on the first day of the exercise, while the second day features discussions in a command post exercise format.
Let us be ready!
