Pandora 2006 crisis regulation training begins

"Our goal was to test two critical aspects in the work of our agencies: finding the individuals who had come into contact with the infected prisoners in the preceding days and halting the further spread of the illness," explained Tauno Suurkivi, director of the organising group of the initial prison-based part of Pandora 2006. "Both of these tasks were fulfilled." According to Suurkivi a number of shortcomings were detected in the work between agencies, but in general the organisers felt that the Tallinn Prison would be more than capable of successfully localising a threat of infection in real life. Suurkivi added that the agencies should pay greater attention to internal communication and informing the public of crisis situations.

According to the scenario of the training exercises, four detainees had recently been brought into Estonia from an Asian country listed by the public health organisation of the United Nations as at risk from highly transmissible avian influenza. On first inspection the detainees appeared to have presented none of the symptoms of the illness. However, the medical condition of the prisoners brought in from Asia then quickly deteriorated. As the detainees arrived from a country which was at risk from avian influenza, greater attention was paid to this turn of events. The situation within the prison led to panic and unrest among the other inmates and their visitors out of fear of contracting the so-called bird flu, and this required adequate handling of the situation by those reacting to it.

Today, 3 October, the Pandora 2006 crisis regulation exercises will continue at the Tallinn Airport, where the scenario will be played out of the flu virus reaching Estonia via infected air passengers.

In this scenario, Estonian peace-keeping officers are returning home from a central Asian country which has seen a recent sharp increase in the number of people in the location population succumbing to the H5N8 virus. During the flight the state of health of a number of the peacekeepers deteriorates. The captain on the flight makes contact with Tallinn air traffic control and informs them that there are passengers on board the plane returning from a high-risk region who are presenting symptoms of influenza. An epidemic control plan is launched.

As the scenario develops further, the army officers who have been released from the airport with no obvious symptoms are involved in a traffic accident with a bus. Around two dozen troops are injured and emergency units are dispatched to the scene.