SPAIN: A mock explosion at a shopping centre in Madrid tests the ability of emergency services to respond to terrorist threats and disasters

Record ID: 353316

  • Title: SPAIN: A mock explosion at a shopping centre in Madrid tests the ability of emergency services to respond to terrorist threats and disasters
  • Date: 22nd June 2007
  • Summary: (SOUNDBITE) (Spanish) DOCTOR, EXPERT IN EMERGENCY SITUATIONS AND EVENT ORGANIZER, JOSE MARIA CALVO, SAYING: "That took us all by surprise, the 11M incidents, we weren't ready for that. We thought we were invulnerable but we realised we were not. Terrorism is around the corner, attacks leaving multiple victims are around the corner and that calls for a careful co-ordination
  • Embargoed: 7th July 2007 13:00
  • Keywords:
  • Location: Spain
  • Country: Spain
  • Topics: Crime / Law Enforcement
  • Reuters ID: LVA3OXWIRR3NTWQ1FFSPL6XTAQVJ
  • Story Text: More than 400 emergency workers and 200 actors staged a mock emergency disaster drill in Madrid on Thursday (June 21) to test the city's response to terror attacks and disasters.
    The exercise involved a mock bomb attack at a shopping centre in the Spanish capital that if real, would result in heavy casualties.
    The city's police, fire and health departments participated in the drill which was also joined by major hospitals in the area.
    Spain has experienced both domestic and international terrorism problems in recent years.
    In 2004, a series of attacks at Madrid's Atocha railway station in Madrid killed 199 people and injured more than 1,400 others.
    "That took us all by surprise, the 11M incidents, we weren't ready for that. We though we were invulnerable but we realised we were not. Terrorism is around the corner, attacks leaving multiple victims are around the corner and that calls for a careful co-ordination of all emergency forces," said Jose Maria Calvo, a doctor specialising in emergency situations.
    Spain stepped up security after the armed Basque separatist group ETA said it was ending a 15-month cease-fire earlier this month.
    ETA, whose name is a Basque-language acronym for Basque Homeland Freedom, has killed more than 800 people since 1968 in its campaign for a separate Basque state. Its preferred methods are car bombs and individual shootings of politicians and security force members.
  • Copyright Holder: REUTERS
  • Copyright Notice: (c) Copyright Thomson Reuters 2011. Open For Restrictions - http://about.reuters.com/fulllegal.asp
  • Usage Terms/Restrictions: None
Register