Carinthia stages its largest disaster exercise

Carinthia is holding its largest-ever disaster-response exercise from Friday to Sunday, ORF Kärnten reports. The scenario is a severe earthquake like the one that struck Friuli-Venezia Giulia exactly 50 years ago.

The ORF’s Carinthian regional studio will play a central role, practising how it would keep the public informed during a disaster. The studio can be contacted around the clock via an alarm telephone. Its editor-in-chief, Bernhard Bieche, said the exercise would help staff review their procedures for emergencies.

Technical director Klaus Wachschütz said the studio could continue operating during a power cut, with backup electricity for at least 72 hours. Transmitters at Dobratsch, Koralpe and Goldeck would allow it to inform the public from the state alarm and warning centre for longer than that.

No AT-Alert emergency notifications will be sent during the exercise, to avoid making people less responsive to real alerts, the state said. Emergency telephone numbers will continue to operate normally. A public hotline, 050 536 22132, will be open on Friday and Saturday from 8 a.m. to 8 p.m.

Several municipalities will activate emergency support points in buildings such as schools, community halls, municipal offices and fire stations. They will have electricity, heating, sanitation and cooking facilities, and offer medical help. They are intended as places where people can get assistance, not as mass accommodation.

Some roads will be closed in Villach and the districts of Villach-Land and Völkermarkt. No road closures are planned in the other districts or in Klagenfurt, although emergency vehicle traffic will increase in some places. The exercise will also involve aircraft noise, vehicle convoys and siren signals. The ORF will report on the exercise on television, online and through its social media channels.