Emergency Services being put through their paces

The Johannesburg Emergency Management Services held a live Simulation exercise to prepare their members for a real natural disaster, the participants consisted of emergency personal from City of Johannesburg, Ekurhuleni; City of Tshwane and Sedibeng Emergency Services.

The simulation was put together to resemble a real disaster zone and give the personal a real live working environment where they could be put through their paces. Everything was real, they even had people dressed up in traditional clothing walking around with guns trying to distract the emergency workers from doing their jobs. They had to formulate a plan before hand, on what supplies they needed to take along, what equipment ext. Instructors were also observing the simulation giving advice were it was needed and where the participants were going to far of track.

The biggest thing I noticed was the amount of planning that needs to go into a operation like this, a real disaster zone that is, and also the amount of work these men and woman need to do. This was just a small scale simulation where a real disaster zone would be much bigger. I really respect the work that our men and woman from the emergency services do, where they are willing to risk their own lives to save the lives of others.