Liberia Airport
Simulation Tests
Emergency Response
A number of visitors to
the Daniel Oduber
International airport,
in Liberia, got
concerned seeing a group
of people lying on the
tarmac and firefighters
and rescue personnel
attending what appeared
to be an aircraft in
distress.
The manevours were part
of the emergency
response exercises at
the airport, testing the
response efforts of the
team in the event of a
real accident.
The simulation is part
of the evaluations
demanded by
international aviation
and allows Costa Rican
officials to measure the
conditions of managing a
crisis.
On hearing the sirens
and passing of
ambulances and fire
trucks rushing to the
airport, residents
thought the worst.
For the exercise, the
control tower suspended
all airport operations
between 8:00am and
11:00am. Commercial
airlines were aware of
the airport closing and
rescheduled their
flights. However,
private airplanes that
use the airport had to
wait out the simulation.
Viviana Martín,
vice-minister of
Transportes, explained
that the exercise was in
two parts: one, a
response to a call for
help by a 737 with 71
passengers and four crew
aboard that had been
seized by terrorists
while in flight.
The second part of the
simulation was to test
the response of the
emergency team in the
event of an accident
involving an aircraft at
the airport.
Taking part in the
simulation were
officials of the MOPT.
trhe Comisión de
Emergencias, the
Ministerio de Seguridad
Publica (police), the
CCSS (social security),
bomberos (firefighters),
Cruz Roja (Red Cross),
Migración (immigration),
aduanas (customs), OIJ
(judicial police), DIS
(secret police) and the
MAG (agriculture
ministry).
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