Mexico City selects Sepura to assist in major earthquake drill
Mexico City selects Sepura to assist in majorearthquake drill
On April 19ththis year the Mexican authorities carried out a simulation of the effectson Mexico City of an earthquake measuring 8.1 on the Richter scale. Sepura radioswere installed in Mexico City Police’s command and control centre – the official crisisroom for disaster recovery co-ordination – run by the capital’s head of governmentand the chief of police.
Mexico City’s public safety organisations, civil protection agencies and personnelfrom the metro system that serves the metropolitan area of Mexico City were allactively involved in this operation. The purpose of this exercise was to evaluateresponse times, and the adequacy and speed of deployment of all availableresources.
The Secretara de Seguridad Pblica del Distrito Federal (SSP-DF), the co-ordinatingauthority, made the decision to carry out this large scale drill following the highmagnitude earthquake which struck Chile in February this year. Mexico City hasitself experienced many similar earthquakes, the last being the devastating 1985earthquake, which caused untold casualties and destruction.
SSP-DF deployed multiple command positions using Sepura’s SRG mobile gatewayradios in the command centre in plaza Tlaxcoaque, located in the historic centre ofMexico City. During the drill several response teams were despatched to a variety ofsimulated emergencies: a collapsed bridge, a metro train crash and even the destructionof the Angel, Mexico City’s famous monument to independence. The overall operationlasted over two hours and was declared a complete success by all the public safetyorganisations and agencies involved.
Juan Carlos Caldern Tapia from Exsertel S.A. de C.V. a subsidiary of Sepura’sdistributor ConexisCom Mxico S.A. de C.V. commented: “Sepura radios wereselected because of their ease and flexibility of installation. In addition, the radios’available accessories, and specifically the virtual console which can be embedded inall the centre’s computer screens, make them ideal for a command and controlenvironment where space is always at a premium”.
Ing. Edgar Gonzlez Cruz from SSP-DF said: “Preparing for and dealing with majordisaster recovery operations in a megalopolis like Mexico City with over 20 millioninhabitantsrequires co-ordination at the highest level. There are no words to convey thevital importance of communications between the control centre and all parties involved inevents of such a scale. We need the peace of mind that the communication equipmentwe use is fit for purpose, reliable and will ultimately enable us to save as many lives aspossible in the devastating circumstances of a major natural disaster like a highmagnitude earthquake”.
Media contact:
Rosanna Norman, Sepura plc
Tel: +44 (0) 1223 877283
Email: rosanna.norman@sepura.com