The Minister of the Presidency, José Simpson, representing the President of the Republic, Laurentino Cortizo Cohen and the Vice President, José Gabriel Carrizo, opened and welcomed the delegations of the participating countries of the III Regional Simulation of Disaster Response and Humanitarian Assistance .
“The preparation of our population is fundamental, the training of our rescue units is key to being able to face the force of nature. And this drill, which, although it is a practical exercise, is not a real situation, should teach us enormous things on the way to achieving comprehensive disaster risk management,” said Minister Simpson when declaring the event open, which will last until Friday June 16.
At noon, Minister Simpson, as part of the initiation of the drill scenarios, participated in the Cabinet Council held at the National Operations Center (CON) where the alert was issued for the 7.5-magnitude earthquake with its epicenter on the Pedro Miguel fault.
The minister received the Cabinet resolution in which, with prior authorization from the President of the Republic, an alert and a state of emergency were declared in the province of Panama, as well as international assistance was requested as part of the simulated exercise of an earthquake.
