The devastating aftermath of a hurricane and a dramatic rescue, created in a mammoth operation by the Royal Navy, gave Loughborough College students first hand experience of crisis management on a grand scale at the weekend.
An amphibious assault ship, helicopters, a TV crew reporting on the disaster, a landing craft winch to safety and seriously injured casualties were only a few of the sights and experiences marking two dramatic days with little sleep in between for 14 Public Services students involved in a major military exercise.
“The simulation involved more than 700 people at several points along the south coast with input from the Department for International Development and the Foreign Office.
“The first day saw students playing inhabitants in the heart of the hurricane-hit village and observing as the crew came ashore to preserve life – restoring power, setting up a field hospital and dealing with sanitation, fire, flood and the inevitable casualties.
“Day two began at 4.00am when the students became refugees and were evacuated to the HMS Ocean,” explained Tim Turner, Programme Area Lead for Public Services at Loughborough College.
“We were rescued from the shore and transported by landing craft to the ship where the whole craft was winched out of the water and taken aboard this massive carrier, the HMS Ocean, while helicopters buzzed overhead,” added 17 year old Public Services student Tim Staples.
“We’d already had a full day of being in the thick of this devastating situation and been exposed to people who were real-life trauma survivors working with the casualty actors’ union who had been professionally made up to look as if they had been seriously injured. It really brought home the importance of what we were doing and how close to reality this was.
“When we were taken out to the ship we were all so tired, after getting up at dawn, which again made it more realistic. Then we had our papers checked by the Foreign Office.
“It was devastating but the speed and efficiency of the crew was reassuring so it also left room for the non role-playing part of us to feel excited. Having the opportunity to experience a crisis exercise like that is sure to make a big difference to our assignments.”
Bernadette Barker, Programme Area Lead for Caring Services at Loughborough College, described the unfolding of the weekend crisis exercise as “amazing and humbling.
“I was interviewed in character by a TV crew in about my experiences and it made me realise how effective the operation had been in creating this horrendous situation.
“I really felt I had been given an insight into how it would be as a victim and it highlighted even more just how much is involved in managing a crisis on this scale and the expertise of those leading the operation. I felt very privileged to have been given the chance to experience it.”
Also on hand to support students was Nigel Wright, a Loughborough College Public Services team member who is a former fire fighter familiar with the landing craft and ships after serving in the Falklands.
Lieutenant Commander John Barry praised Loughborough College’s involvement: “The staff and students added huge value and the ship was particularly complimentary, recognizing the very real contribution the students made.
“They were a real credit to Loughborough College and I hope they gained as much from it as we did.”
Pictured: Loughborough students and staff join the Royal Navy for the mammoth training operation