Today, at the Training Centre Pepelishte, on the DV day, as part of the exercise “MEDCEUR 11” a response by the civilian and military structures of the Republic of Macedonia and its friends was presented in the event of an earthquake near Negotino, followed by floods, land slide, fires, damaged buildings, outbreak of infectious diseases and provision of care for the sick and wounded.
The Deputy Minister of Defence, Emil Dimitriev, stated that the exercise is coordinated by the Ministry of Defence in collaboration with the Ministry of Interior, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, the Ministry of Health, the Crisis Management Centre and the Protection and Rescue Directorate. It also involves the armies of Serbia, Montenegro, Bosnia and Herzegovina and the strongest supporter of this exercise, the U.S. Army.
“Natural disasters and catastrophes pose the most unpredictable threat to humanity and it is good to always bear in mind what can happen to us and the extent to which our institutions are prepared for it. What we have seen as part of this exercise is a proof that we possess maximum synchronization and coordination of all institutions which on a given occasion are supposed to respond to these disasters. My opinion is that Macedonia in a way maintains the high level of preparedness to deal with these crises”, emphasized the Deputy Minister Dimitriev.
He thanked the United States and all the participating countries in the region that supported the exercise, stressing that the army is an institution that remains to have the greatest capacity in the country to deal with such crises, and that in future, this part of the mission of Macedonia will be defined and included in the training of ARM members. The Macedonian co-director of the exercise, Andreja Naumovski, said the exercise was carried out successfully and that all planned activities which were outlined were realized proving once again that participants’ coordination and organization is important for dealing with major proportion disasters.
“We are prepared and our current arrangements were once again proven to be fruitful. We can successfully tackle crises of this nature”, considered Naumovski.
Colonel Charles Tedder of the U.S. Air Force said that today’s demonstration showed the Macedonian civil service and the Macedonian military service as well as other regional and U. S. partners’ response to fires and chemical incidents.