Volunteers test their skills in earthquake exercise

Within hours of the earthquake hitting the White Rocks Holiday Complex Civil Protection Department volunteer teams were already combing the ruins and providing medical assistance to surviving hotel guests.

Before it gets serious, this was just the CPD's latest simulation exercise, organised with the assistance of German civil protection volunteers.

It was geared at testing the Spider teams' abilities to handle high stress search and rescue operations following a natural disaster in a high density, urban environment.

The neglected holiday complex was the ideal setting for the exercise, with a command centre set up to the side of the simulation ground and teams deployed around the dilapidated complex once the action kicked off.

Light beams flickered back and forth across the ruins, as team members relayed orders and commands. As soon as "survivors" started being discovered scattered in the ruins, medical teams sprung into action providing assistance according to the gravity of the injuries.

The exercise was devised to be as realistic as possible and, in fact, the location of the survivors were unknown to the search teams and their leaders and each survivor bore a designation indicating the gravity of the injuries.

Touring the volunteers lined up before the simulation, Justice and Home Affairs Minister Carmelo Mifsud Bonnici inspected the rescue teams and the various medical tents set up around the command centre.

Following a short briefing, Dr Mifsud Bonnici said such exercises were necessary to test the capabilities of Maltese search and rescue teams.

Malta was part of a civil protection web that extended over Europe. This meant Maltese forces could be called in to provide support to other countries in emergencies, he said, stressing that Maltese human resources had to be up to the task.