Government and Humanitarian Partners in Georgia Test Emergency Preparedness [EN/RU]

(Tbilisi, 9 November 2016) – a few dozen representatives from the government, UN agencies and NGOs with the humanitarian mandate are participating in a joint simulation exercise that is taking place in Georgia for the first time in years.

Some 70 exercise participants are testing not only their individual preparedness but more importantly the common preparedness to act and deliver in large-scale emergencies.

While the simulation lasts one day, it covers the first ten days of a hypothetical disaster – in this case, a devastating earthquake in Tbilisi. According to INFORM – a global index for risk management – Georgia is particularly vulnerable to earthquakes, followed by drought and floods. In the last two decades, these three types of disasters affected nearly 1 million people or one fourth of the total population.

The simulation exercise is designed in a way that immerses participants in the urgent atmosphere of responding to a crisis that requires international assistance. The control team – organizers and trained facilitators – inundate the e-mail boxes of participants with a barrage of updates, occasional injects of unconfirmed rumors, as well as requests for action and information. All of this has to be quickly processed and used in line with international standards, best practices and what’s best for the affected people. “Tremendous amounts of work are undertaken before an exercise takes place,” says Marcel Vaessen, Head of OCHA Regional Office for the Caucasus, Central Asia and Ukraine. “Today is the culmination of weeks of work: coordinating the set-up, scenario, and nuances of the exercise, making sure that it is a rich learning experience for the target audience.”

The simulation exercise is organized by the United Nations Resident Coordinator’s Office in Georgia and OCHA ROCCA in cooperation with the Office of the State Security and Crisis Management Council (SSCMC) and Emergency Management Department of the Ministry of Internal Affairs of Georgia, as well as several NGOs and UN agencies. “Today we are testing which protocols and operating procedures are working and which require an upgrade,” explains OCHA Humanitarian Advisory Team representative Ashot Sargsyan. “After the exercise, participants will have a clearer understanding of how the international humanitarian system ought to operate and how to tailor it to the local context so that we are better prepared to tackle future emergencies.”