6/19 Drills (China)

Beijing to hold first nuclear terror drill next month
http://www.indiaenews.com/asia/20070619/56858.htm


Beijing will conduct its first drill to test its responses to a potential terrorist nuclear attack next month, the municipal government announced Tuesday.
Organised by the municipal health bureau, the drill will involve several government bureaus, including environmental protection, the centre for disease control and fire brigade, said Shan Qingsheng, an official with the government's emergency response office.
The drill would focus on a scenario in which a 'dirty bomb' loaded with explosives and radioactive substances is set off outside an 'Olympic stadium', said Shan.
The bureaus involved will have to immediately react to the bomb. Using radiation detectors, the fire brigade would first find a safe route to the scene of the 'bombing' before rescuers could enter to give first aid.
Medical teams would then give a radiation rating and define the type of radiation so that the injured could receive appropriate treatment.
The national medical base of nuclear and radiation incident, located in the Third Hospital of Peking University, will receive and treat 'victims' of the drill, according to the drill plan.
The organizers declined to give the exact time and location of the drill, nor how many people would be involved.
Beijing will hold more drills on various subjects in the run-up of the Olympics, Shan said.
On Tuesday afternoon, a state-level anti-terrorist drill was held in the capital.
The drill tested the capacity of Chinese police to handle a large-scale hostage taking and helped improve China's anti-terrorist ability, an official with the Ministry of Public Security said.

"Great Wall No. 4,"

China holds anti-terror drill for games
http://www.superxtra.co.za/default.asp?id=219114&des=article


Chinese police staged their first anti-terror exercise of the year on Tuesday as part of security preparations for the 2008 Olympic Games in Beijing, state media said.
The exercise, called "Great Wall No. 4," addressed the need to maintain law and order and combat possible terrorism during the Beijing Games, the Xinhua news agency reported, without saying how many officers took part.
Television images showed police storming a building and testing small robots equipped with cameras.
The exercise was designed to test the police's ability to tackle a major hostage situation, the report quoted an anonymous police official as saying.
At the same time, Luo Gan, who is responsible for Olympic security, called on security forces across the country to mobilise, according to a television report.
"All regions, all interested departments must reinforce the higher interest of the country, strengthen their cooperation, join all forces from all corners of the country to work towards security for a successful Olympics," he said on television.
He was speaking at a meeting in Beijing focused on tackling potential attacks.
The Beijing municipal government separately announced Tuesday a plan to hold an exercise "to test responses to a potential nuclear attack," Xinhua said.
The drill, scheduled for July, would involve a scenario in which a "dirty bomb" loaded with explosives and radioactive substances is set off outside an "Olympic stadium," Shan Qingsheng, an emergency response official, said in the report.
Various agencies would have to react immediately to the incident, Xinhua said, but organisers declined to give the exact time or location of the drill, nor how many people would take part.