Earthquake in Naples: Behind the scenes of the Neptune Response Exercise

NAPLES, Italy (NNS) -- A 4.7 earthquake shook Naples, Italy, causing damage to the area, including Naval Support Activity Naples, and a crisis team from the Regional Operations Center (ROC)responded, May 10, during exercise Neptune Response 2013.

The lights began to flicker, and an email is sent to the ROC, "Shaking and jolting felt across the entire base, possibly and earthquake." While the responders act hastily to the announcement, the Training Staff of the exercise stand in the back and watch closely.

Phones are ringing; head counts demanded, emergency response coordinated, when a Navy lieutenant stands up and makes an announcement. "Attention in the ROC, attention in the ROC, there has been another earthquake, a 7.0 in the Pozzuoli area," he said.

Although Neptune Response 2013 is an annual training exercise that tests multiple commands in emergency response and communication, a room with no windows has a way of turning the imagination into a projected reality.

"When you have lived through something like the earthquake in Japan [2011 Tohoku earthquake and tsunami], things come to light such as the safety and security of your people," said Capt. Eric Gardner, Region chief of staff and former commanding officer of Naval Air Station Atsugi Japan. "Then you have to ask: Can we still do our mission? What do we need to still operate? Who is hurt and what is damaged? How do we start doing things to get us back to where we need to be?"

The exercise has expanded every year, each year different from the last. During Neptune Response, Naval Support Activity (NSA) Naples, Naval Forces Europe, Region Europe Africa Southwest Asia come together and form a consequence management task force. The consequence management task force inside the ROC in Naples, is able to not only deal with natural disasters, but is also able to respond to chemical, biological, radiological or nuclear threats and incidents at installations.

"In the past we trained for a chemical problem, but the problem was that it doesn't require as much coordination with other agencies and doesn't stress a training audience enough..." said Cowart. "We chose a natural disaster that would probably stress the unit as much as it could be stressed, and then we incorporated the chemical even within that."

Region Exercise Director Tracey Murdock, and Region Exercise Planner, Derick Cowart, created the environment for the simulated earthquake, along with their team of trained staff and subject matter experts. They serve in a number of key roles such as training directors, planners, developers and assessors.

The planning of the exercise can take more than nine months, and the Command Post Exercise itself lasts only four days and can involve a number of commands throughout the region and abroad.

The training director must bring a level of organization, creativity and most of all people skills to an exercise like Neptune Response. "You really need people skills to work with them (exercise players), to bring them into planning, "said Tracy Murdock. Murdock was not always in the director's chair. She has also seen the other side while working in Emergency Management as a problem solver. Now she is the one who finds problems to test the players of the exercise.

As in the past, after a successful overall exercise, all lessons learned will be reviewed in the final discussion of the exercise and will be used to enhance the training for next year and any unseen real time events in the future.

In an already busy week, the commands and personnel involved in Neptune Response must push aside most of their normal daily work and come together to successfully carry out the crucial training. Considering the alternative, in a real-world event of an earthquake, there would be no other option.

For more news from Commander, Navy Region Europe, Africa, Southwest Asia, visit www.navy.mil/local/cnre/.