PEARL, MS (WLBT) - The simulated crash scene was bustling with activity as several local, state and federal agencies responded.
In the practice scenario, more than 100 people were hurt or killed. Months of preparation culminated with what participants called a realistic exercise.
"You want to exercise to the point of failure and that's to identify where you need improvement. So were there failures today, absolutely. So it was a great exercise in my opinion," said Scott Leavitt with AMR Ambulance Service.
A unified incident command system was used to oversee the exercise to best meet the needs of victims and manage the disaster area. Officials say after-action assessment is critical to the success of an emergency plan. The next step is for participating agencies to meet as a large group.
"We have evaluators and observers assigned to each group and they'll bring back their written reports and say this is what we saw. We think you can improve in this area and we would like for you to think about how you can cross-coordinate this and some of it's just going to be, hey, reality happens and there wasn't anything you can do about it but you dealt with the reality very well," added Bonnie Wilson with the Jackson-Evers Airport.
"In the history of the Jackson-Evers international airport there have never been any major crashes such as this simulation was today. Now the preparedness, the being ready for such a situation is what this exercise is all about. In the next couple of weeks all the agencies that participated will evaluate the situation and make adjustments accordingly.
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