Simulation exercise: African swine fever in Australia-4

24 and 25 November

Dr Mark Schipp, Australian Chief Veterinary Officer, Department of Agriculture, Water and the Environment, Canberra, Australia informed the OIE that a simulation exercise, Exercise Piggyback, will be held in Australia on 24 and 25 November 2020.

Exercise Piggyback will be a two-day discussion exercise focused on an outbreak of African swine fever (ASF) in New South Wales (NSW). It has been designed to test the NSW State Emergency Management Arrangements for managing the response to and recovery from an outbreak of ASF. Participants will include NSW Department of Primary Industries, in cooperation with Resilience NSW, emergency management agencies, Australian Pork Limited and Farmers NSW

 The objectives of the discussion exercise are

 – from a response perspective, to:

  • Assess the effectiveness of the NSW State Emergency Management Arrangements for coordinating response efforts between the combat agency (NSW Department of Primary Industries), the State Emergency Operations Controller and the State Emergency Operations Centre;
  • Identify resource requirements, sources and dependencies for managing the response to an outbreak of ASF;
  • Explore options for destruction and disposal of large numbers of ASF affected carcasses and decontamination of affected premises;
  • Identify responsibilities and develop key messages for public warnings and communication with affected communities and industries.

-And from a recovery perspective, to

  • Identify the combat agency, State Emergency Operations Controller (SEOCON), State Emergency Operations Centre (SEOC) and recover agency responsibilities, relevant to initial recovery efforts, while still responding to an outbreak of ASF;
  • Undertake an impact assessment on affected communities and industries;
  • Identify recovery capabilities and capacity to manage the impact of an outbreak of ASF;
  • Identify responsibilities and develop key messages for public warnings and communication with affected communities and industries.

*********************

World Animal Health Information and Analysis Department
World Organisation for Animal Health (OIE)
[email protected]