A total of seven Civil Defense exercises were held today, Sunday, in three provinces of free Cyprus, Larnaca, Famagusta and Paphos, which were successfully completed, said Panagiotis Liasidis, spokesman for the Force.
He added that "today a total of seven exercises were scheduled and held in three provinces of free Cyprus, in Avgorou in the province of Famagusta, in Ora in the province of Larnaca and in Argaka in the province of Paphos". Also, he noted, on Wednesday, June 10, a Civil Defense exercise will be held in Kalopanayiotis in the province of Nicosia and in the Community of Foini in the province of Limassol.
The aim of the exercises, he continued, "is to see exactly what happens when we have evacuations in different provinces".
As Mr. Liasidis said, today "the CY-Alert system was used from which a message was sent to the mobile phones of the residents of the Communities in which the exercise was carried out". The message stated that there is an incident in a specific area, asking residents to prepare for evacuation and follow the instructions of the Deputy Mayor, the Police and the Civil Defense.
He explained that the second message sent by the system "mentioned immediate evacuation due to fire, mentioned the gathering place and the accommodation area and recommendations to citizens to follow the instructions of the Police and Civil Defense". Also, "the message stated that the roads should remain open to be used by the vehicles of the competent State Services".
As Mr. Liasidis stated, "before 2 pm, another message was sent to the mobile phones of the residents of the specific areas, informing that the exercise has ended, the danger has been overcome, there is security and citizens can return back to their homes".
Answering a relevant question, Panagiotis Liasidis said that "in the incidents there was very good organization and coordination by the Commander of Civil Defense at the Control Center that exists in Nicosia".
At the same time, he reminded the public of "the announcements and films that exist on the gov.cy, on the Cy-alert website, while there is also technical support from the 1450 phone in order for citizens to make the necessary adjustments on their mobile phone to receive the test notifications from the Civil Defense. In case citizens do not take this action, then they will not be able to receive our test notifications," he clarified.
Asked by KYPE about today's exercises in the three Communities of the provinces of Larnaca, Famagusta and Paphos, Mr. Liasidis replied that "in each province a Coordination Center has been set up in which there are persons from all the Services involved, i.e. Police, Civil Defense, Department of Forests, Fire Service, Ambulance Service and Civil Defense volunteers".
There, he explained, coordination is taking place, as will be done in a real incident and instructions were given for evacuation and the accommodation area in which the residents will be accommodated for a few hours until the episode is over.
In this area, he continued, "there are beds, members of the Red Cross go to help, there is also a First Aid station, while residents will be given food, water and anything they need for a short stay."
He also explained that "in the plans of the Civil Defense, there are accommodation areas to which the residents of the areas that are being evacuated will go and depending on the direction of the wind, instructions will be given for the escape route and their gathering place". There, he added, "residents are registered, while in case there are elderly, bedridden and disabled people, whatever means the Services involved have will be used to transport the specific persons safely to the accommodation area".
The Spokesperson of the Civil Defense stated, finally, that "the exercise was successful, the results are being evaluated and improvement measures will certainly be taken wherever necessary".
