Israeli drill simulates biological terror attack
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Xinhua, December 1, 2011
Israel launched a large exercise Wednesday, simulating a biological attack involving mass casualties.
The exercise, coded "Orange Flame 6", is being held in northern Israel and aims to evaluate the preparedness of the security establishment and health services to deal with the outbreak of a biological catastrophe initiated by militants or caused by accidents.
The Israeli army's Home Front Command and defense and health ministries are overseeing the exercise. Hospitals, emergency rescue teams and police are participating in the exercise, which is scheduled to conclude on Thursday.
As part of the exercise, local governments in the cities of Afula, Tiberias and Nazareth have set up Mass-Prophylaxis Treatment Centers, which simulate the provision of preventive treatment to civilians who are suspected of exposure to biological agents. Each center is being drilled in treating some 5,000 people a day. Medical staff are being tested in treating those who are already displaying symptoms of a disease.
"It's important to emphasize that today's event is routine and was planned in advance," Brigadier General Ze'ev Snir, the assistant minister of defense for chemical, biological, radiological and nuclear defense, said at a press briefing.
"Israel is yet to experience a biological attack, and we can't assess the probability of such an attack taking place, but our approach (to the issue) says that it's better to be prepared than have to later explain why we weren't," Snir said.
He would not comment on the types of biological agents currently available to some of Israel's enemies, only asserting that "no specific threat exists at the moment."
But a table of biological warfare materials and their symptoms posted on the walls of Afula's Ha'emek Hospital's emergency ward, where soldiers and civilian volunteers played out the victims, listed Anthrax, Ebola, Q-Fever, Yellow Fever and Small Pox, among others.
Israel has held numerous large-scale drills simulating scenarios of mass casualties since the war in 2006 with Lebanon, when thousands of rockets fired by the guerrilla group Hezbollah slammed into major cities and communities in northern Israel. A state-appointed probe panel later concluded that Israel's emergency services and a host of other official bodies were ill- prepared or equipped to handle the emergency.
However, senior officials in charge of Wednesday's exercise said its goal centers not on missiles armed with biological warheads, but on what they call a "silent event" initiated by a militant cell against popular targets, such as a crowded shopping mall. They said its added bonus is the opportunity to drill medical staff in responding to non-terror emergencies, such as Swine Flu, which claimed the lives of a few dozen Israelis in 2007.
The exercise's initial challenge is to identify the material involved in an attack. In a real-life situation, blood samples would be rushed for analysis at the Israel Institute for Biological Research in Ness Ziona, south of Tel Aviv. To make the drill as realistic as possible, volunteers trained to behave like people who have been exposed to biological agents are placed in hermetically-sealed oxygen tents.
U.S. Army Colonel Alicia Tate-Nadeau, who was recently appointed to serve as the liaison officer to the Israeli army's Home Front Command, said her impression of the drill was positive.
"Anytime you exercise a plan it makes you better prepared," said Tate-Nadeau.
Her colleagues said Israel was "very well prepared" to deal with a biological attack or any other unconventional attack.
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