Aug. 7, 2007 — A full-scale mass-rescue exercise will take place on St. Thomas Thursday, with participants including the U.S. Coast Guard, Norwegian Cruise Line (NCL) and the V.I. government.
"When a community is faced with a mass-rescue emergency — whether it is caused by a natural disaster or an accident involving a passenger plane or vessel — locating, rescuing, keeping track of and caring for rescued persons can become overwhelming very quickly," said Capt. Raymond Perry, deputy commander of the Coast Guard’s Sector San Juan. “Fire, police, rescue and medical services, as well as private-sector responders, must come together quickly and operate under one well-coordinated organization to save lives. This exercise will help prepare us to do just that.”
Since 2002, Coast Guard passenger-vessel safety specialists from around the United States have worked with passenger-vessel operators to develop standardized procedures for managing a mass-rescue operation, according to a Coast Guard news release. Through meetings and a series of exercises, the participants learn about each others' capabilities, identify best response practices and work to establish standardized procedures to help ensure maximum effectiveness.
NCL volunteered to be the lead cruise line in this exercise to assist the Coast Guard in its emergency-preparedness efforts. Thursday’s scenario will be a simulated cruise ship needing to transfer all its passengers to Saint Thomas after running aground off the island of Culebra, Puerto Rico. Some members of NCL's incident-response team in Miami will contribute to the field exercise.
"The safety and well being of our passengers and crew is our number-one priority," said Bill Hamlin, NCL's executive vice president of fleet operations, according to the release. "Taking the lead in volunteering and participating in this exercise with the Coast Guard and the U.S. Virgin Islands will provide us with invaluable learning. We are looking forward to a successful exercise that will result in outcomes that benefit not only the parties involved, but also the entire cruise industry."
The Caribbean was chosen for this exercise because of the many cruise ships that navigate its waters, each carrying an average of 2,000 to 3,000 passengers. The Coast Guard from Sector San Juan was well aware of the ongoing preparedness efforts of the V.I. government in mass-rescue situations, the release said.
"It was perfectly natural for the Coast Guard and the Virgin Islands Office of Homeland Security to come together and co-host such an exercise at this time," said Mel Vanterpool, director of the V.I. Office of Homeland Security. "Numerous federal and territorial agencies will be participating, as well as volunteers from the Charlotte Amalie High School Junior ROTC and St. Thomas Police Athletic League, who will role play as the passengers being rescued. The passenger ferry Sundance Queen from Inter Island Boat Services will participate as a lifeboat in the exercise."
The exercise will test a number of agencies at once.
"The Caribbean mass-rescue exercise is a wonderful opportunity to test our abilities and procedures in dealing with such a volatile situation," said Steve Parris, acting state director of the V.I. Territorial Emergency Management Agency. "This exercise will allow us to partner with not only our federal entities, but also our public-private partnership. Because in emergency management, it takes all three: the local government, federal government and the private stakeholders for it to work effectively."
Participating in Thursday’s exercise will be the U.S. Coast Guard, Norwegian Cruise Line, Cruise Line International Association, U.S. Customs and Border Protection, U.S. Department of Human and Health Services, U.S. Public Health Service, U.S. Transportation Safety Administration, American Red Cross, V.I. Territorial Emergency Management Agency, V.I. Department of Human Services, V.I. Emergency Medical Services, V.I. Office of Homeland Security, V.I. law enforcement, St. Thomas Police Department, V.I. Fire Service, the Roy Lester Schneider Hospital and the V.I. Taxi Alliance.
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