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EMO: No terror threat vs CNMI
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Posted on May 13 2004
The Emergency Management Office assured the Northern Marianas yesterday that there is no imminent terror threat to the Commonwealth and security remains tight at all ports of entry.
EMO director Rodolfo Pua disclosed yesterday that a planned CNMI-wide anti-terror exercise and seminars are only meant to ensure that guidelines are in place and to establish some procedures that first responders should follow.
“This is not to cause panic. There is no reason to be alarmed. This is just a training to ensure that the guidelines are in place… There is no threat but we need to establish this procedure,” said Pua.
The two anti-terror trainings set to happen this year—one on Saipan and one on Rota and Tinian separately—are designed to establish guidelines on how to respond to weapons of mass destruction.
The Saipan seminar, which will be staged at the Saipan Harbor on May 26 under the CNMI Homeland Security program through EMO, is a full-scale response exercise.
The EMO is coordinating with the EG&G Technical Services to effectively carry out the exercise. Dubbed as “Operation Safe Harbor,” the exercise will test the real-time response of the participating departments, agencies, and organizations of the CNMI and its federal partners.
“The goals of ‘Operation Safe Harbor’ are to validate the CNMI Emergency Operations Plan, Terrorism Response Annex, and Hazardous Material procedures. The evaluators will also look at the community and local entities’ roles, responsibilities, and plans and procedures in response to an act of WMD/terrorism,” Pua said.
On Rota and Tinian, the seminars are designed to provide program information and to develop local response plans and procedures to a Weapons of Mass Destruction/terrorism attack.
The purpose of the two seminars are to provide officials and key personnel an opportunity to evaluate response concept, policies, plans, procedures, and capabilities for a WMD/terrorist event.
Participants to the seminars would be trained on coordination of local emergency, response resources, critical decisions, and the integration of CNMI and federal assets necessary to protect public health and critical infrastructure, and to facilitate recovery from the event.
