Fogo, Cape Verde 25 June 2006

Day 5 Daily report by Evert Somer, civil emergency expert from NATO External link Website of Exercise "Steadfast Jaguar 2006" Multimedia 25 Jun. 2006 - NATO Audio file of the daily audio diary .MP3/779Kb News 21 Jun. 06 - NATO Inferno threat in exercise scenario As it had been decided yesterday, Exercise Steadfast Jaguar would start today with the actual evacuation of some 200 inhabitants from the Caldeiras. On our way up to the crater; we passed a tent camp which had been set up by the Cape Verde authorities in Achada Furna. Almost at the same time, 11 o'clock local time an advanced party of assistance that was going to be provided by the NATO Response Force arrived. Helicopters and ships are going to bring the tents, the generators and the eighty mainly Spanish military ashore. Just out of the convoy of trucks, we arrived in the Caldeiras. The Red Cross has already arrived and established an assembly point. The Cape Verdean civil protection organization was gathering those who needed to be evacuated young and old, the youngest only being 13 days old. In the assembly point, people were provided with water and some food for the short trip. Six trucks were available, enough to bring the first of the fifty to the staging area in the safe zone, a trip of approximately half an hour. After that, three trucks will be used to come back and to pick up the remaining while the other three will start bringing the people to the camp for the evacuees. Once the last person was in a truck also we and all those who would be assisting could return. On our way back, we stopped at a camp site to see that the soldiers from the NATO Response Force were putting together additional tents. The evacuation as was foreseen during the exercise was just in time completed. Yesterday, evening late, the first small "eruption" occurred...