Thursday, July 24, 2014

Largest Nuclear Bomb Drill Ever Being Conducted In Indy This Week

EOC
WISH-TV posted a story on its website today announcing a large scale emergency response drill that is being conducted this week, code named Vibrant Response 2014, that involves agencies from more than 28 states, the largest ever exercise conducted in North America. To what emergency is the practice drill in response? The explosion of a nuclear bomb in Speedway, home to the Indianapolis Motor Speedway where this weekend's NACAR Brickyard 400 race is being run.
This week agencies from more than 28 states are practicing for a large scale emergency in Indianapolis. The exercise, Vibrant Response 2014, is the largest exercise ever conducted in North America. Local, state and federal agencies including the Environmental Protection Agency and the Department of Homeland Security are simulating their response to a nuclear bomb hitting Speedway.
Officials are acting through every scenario they would encounter should a nuclear bomb ever hit Indianapolis.
“Every incident, every emergency, every weather emergency, fire, every bombing and terrorist attack is local.  It would start at the local level, in this case in Marion county. In a situation like this, we would expect them to turn to the state very quickly. We would then turn to our federal assets very quickly,” said John Erickson with the Indiana Department of Homeland Security.
If a bomb were to hit Indianapolis, the Indiana Department of Homeland Security said citizens should seek shelter immediately. The most important thing to do in the first few minutes is to stay inside.
“Get into a home, get in a business, where ever you’re at. Don’t travel. Get into a school, get as many walls as possible between you and the outside,” said Erickson.
Officials then start monitoring radiation levels, coordinating communication, and developing plans to get citizens to a safe location where they can seek treatment. Erickson said the exercise has been very beneficial so far.
“I’d like to say it’s worked flawlessly, but there are always going to be hurdles to overcome.  The goal is to find out where we need to meld processes better and how we can work together better,” said Erickson.
Christopher Royce with the Environmental Protection Agency said training exercises like Vibrant Response 2014 are opportunities for state and federal agencies to work together, that prove valuable in real-life emergencies.
“The quicker that we can get together and work together, getting services back to the community and getting everyone back to their homes, back to a normal state of living the better it is. It helps us to better understand other states, other federal agencies and other municipalities and how they operate,” said Royce.
Last year, a National Guard website posted a story about thousands of military and civilian officials gathering at Camp Atterbury in Edinburgh and the Mascatutuck Urban Training Center near Butlerville as part of an annual Vibrant Response exercise for dealing with nuclear bombs being set off in two major metropolitan areas. That exercise involved about 5,700 service members and civilians from various federal, state and local agencies.

UPDATE: WTHR has more on the parts of the exercise being performed at Camp Atterbury and Mascatatuck with crisis actors. It says 5,500 persons are participating in the exercise, which runs through August 7.




According to this WISH-TV report, even the White House is monitoring the exercise taking place here in Indiana this week. The simulation involves the detonation of a 10 kiloton nuclear bomb in Speedway. A prior study of the impact of releasing a similar bomb just blocks from the White House a few years ago indicated that the bomb blast would cause devastation one-half mile in every direction, reducing most buildings to rubble. "But outside that blast zone, the study concluded, even such a nuclear explosion would be pretty survivable." The study estimated 323,000 injuries, with more than 45,000 dead. The blast would be about 5,000 times the strength of the bomb the government Timothy McVeigh set off in Oklahoma City in 1995 at the Murrah Building.

10 comments:

  1. Anonymous1:44 PM GMT-5

    Participants in the exercise will work on preparation and response to a terrorist attack. Locations for the exercise will include Camp Atterbury, Muscatatuck Urban Training Center, and the Indiana Government Center.

      State participants include individuals from the following agencies: Board of Animal Health, Indiana State Department of Health, Indiana Department of Homeland Security, Indiana Utility Regulatory Commission, State Personnel Department, Indiana Department of Environmental Management, Indiana State Police, Indiana University, Indiana Department of Transportation, Indiana National Guard, Department of Natural Resources, IDHS District Response Task Force 5 (Boone, Hancock, Hamilton, Hendricks, Johnson, Marion, Morgan and Shelby counties), Indianapolis Division of Homeland Security, American Red Cross, Presbyterian Church USA. In addition, Indiana Task Force 1, a federal asset staffed by Indiana public safety professionals, will also participate.
     
    Federal participants include individuals from the following agencies: Federal Emergency Management Agency Region V (Chicago), FEMA Denver Mobile Emergency Response Support, Department of Energy, Department of Defense, National Technical Nuclear Forensic Team (Federal Bureau of Investigations, Department of Energy, US Army, US Air Force), Health and Human Services, Defense Threat Reduction Agency, Environmental Protection Agency, United States Department of Agriculture, Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, Joint Requirements Office, Ohio Task Force One.

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  2. Anonymous3:40 PM GMT-5

    good thing my tin foil hat is on nice and tight...

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  3. Anonymous3:45 PM GMT-5

    Please tell me this is a joke.
    I mean seriously, do these asshats really believe that a nuclear bomb strike in Speedway, Indiana is a survivable event for anyone or anything remotely close to Indy?
    There's a reason why the government shut down the Civil Defense program decades ago and took all the old black and yellow CD fallout shelter signs down from every public building in America.
    The reason? A nuclear war, for all intents and purposes, is not survivable no matter where you hide.
    Just because they make it look so does not make it so. I can't beieve they would have such a drill in 2014. Are people that stupid now or is it just me?

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  4. Anonymous3:50 PM GMT-5

    False flag?

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  5. They've got an entirely different type of nuclear bomb now--the type that falls into the hands of terrorists, anon. 3:45. These tactical nuclear bombs are survivable like the ones we dropped all over Afghanistan and Iraq. http://www.strategic-culture.org/news/2012/04/09/usa-have-used-tactical-nuclear-weapons-afghanistan-iraq.html

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  6. Anonymous4:18 PM GMT-5

    That makes me feel a whole lot better. If it's just some measly tactical nuclear bomb with no fallout then my dad's fallout shelter he built back in 1960 will work fine.
    They had me worried that the Russkies might hit us with one of their La Bamba mega mega mega mega ton bombs.
    I feel safer so I'll take another couple bong hits and frink Bud.

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  7. Anonymous5:26 AM GMT-5

    The City of Indianapolis did not participate in this exercise, because it fell in between the Summer celebration and the Brickard 400. Too many resources were already being used.
    Who ever came up with this date for the exercise failed to consult with Indianapolis to see if anything was going in in their City at the time of the exercise. The last large exercise the State and the Feds came up with, was a week before the Indy 500, again local resources were being used for real world events. There seems to be a pattern here with the State IDHS, and the Feds, are they trying to embarrass the City?
    or is this just bad planning for IDHS?

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  8. Very strange that so much money, effort and resources would be deployed for an exercise that did not include the largest law enforcement agency operating in the affected area. Very strange.

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  9. Gary you assume that the intention of the drill was to actually accomplish what was outlined in the Objective. More likely this drill was like many other things being done by the City and Federal Administrations which is to exhaust budgets then call for expansion of those budgets in the name of protecting us.

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  10. If the City didn't participate in the drill, how could it drain its budget?

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