08th April 2019 14:26:29 Hours
The National Oil Spill Contingency Plan (NOSCOP) prepared and manage by Marin Environment Protection Authority (MEPA) was rehearsed on 4 and 5 April 2019 by the Disaster Management Centre (DMC). This is a major annual event of MEPA’s calendar, designated as SPILLEX. SPILLEX is designed to rehearse the preparedness and response at national level oil spill disaster, on imminent threat in popular maritime hub/routes in the world.
The two days exercise was conducted by the Disaster Management Centre in the coastal areas of Colombo where the under mentioned government agencies took part: a. Tri services. b. Sri Lanka Police. c. Sri Lanka Coast Guard. d. Sri Lanka Ports Authority. e. Ceylon Petroleum Cooperation. f. National Aquatic Resources Research and Development Agency. g. Department of Meteorology. h. Fisheries and Aquatic Department. i. Central Environmental Authority. j. Fire Service Department.
On the direction of the Commander of the Army, Commander Engineer Brigade executed the duties as a member of the Incident Management Team (IMT), with the NOSCOP, representing Sri Lanka Army.
The first day of the SPILLEX 2019 was conducted as a table top exercise. The Incident Management System (ICS) formulated by the United States was exercised by all IMT members and representatives of all agencies. The on-scene actions of each stakeholder to the NOSCOP were tested during the second day of the exercise while employing available assets, man power on the consultation of respective agencies.
During this exercise, Commander Engineer Brigade, Brigadier AN Amarasekara USP ndu held the appointment of Operation Section Chief who formulated the overall operation plan for the disaster response. Commanding Officer 14 CBRN Regiment SLE, Brigade Major Engineer Brigade also contributed during the operational planning at SPILLEX 2019.
The troops of 14 CBRN Regiment SLE practiced as the response team for chemical spill due to a ship accident in general area Wellawatta while troops from 9 Gamunu Watch and 9 (V) Sri Lanka Light Infantry practiced in beach cleaning activities in General Area Dehiwala. 5 Sri Lanka Signal Corps provided communications to the ground troops while 2(V) Sri Lanka Army Medical Corps provide first aid assistance.
