CARSON CITY - Nevada Gov. Jim Gibbons held a news conference here at the State Emergency Operations Center on Thursday to announce the launch of Vigilant Guard 2008, a full-scale emergency preparedness and response exercise sponsored by the National Guard.
Vigilant Guard '08, scheduled to run through June 19, will include more than 2,000 participants from National Guard units from seven western states and six Nevada counties.
The exercise is designed to test, sharpen and evaluate the skills and coordination of local, state and federal civilian response agencies and National Guard units from Nevada, Arizona, California, Hawaii, Idaho, Utah, Washington and Guam.
The exercise scenario simulates a 7.1 magnitude earthquake on the Mt. Rose Fault system centered southwest of U.S. Highway 395 and Mt. Rose Highway. The simulated earthquake occurred at 6 a.m. on Thursday and set the exercise into motion.
Participants will respond to the earthquake disaster by evaluating and simulating emergency response activities. The exercise will provide National Guard organizations with an opportunity to conduct command and control, execute support to civilian authorities, and explore challenges associated with numerous types of mission assignments.
Although the exercise has been in the planning stages for several years, Gibbons emphasized the timeliness of this training with the ongoing seismic activity in Nevada. He noted an earthquake measuring 6.0 on the Richter scale hit the town of Wells in western Nevada on Feb. 21.
"These exercises prepare us to look for weaknesses in our plans, processes and protocols," Gibbons said. "We are here today to learn how we can operate and function better together."
Gibbons also quoted a famous saying of Lt. Gen. H. Stephen Blum, the chief of the National Guard Bureau.
"It is not the time to be exchanging business cards or meeting your neighbors during an emergency," Gibbons quoted.
Maj. Gen. Cynthia N. Kirkland, the Adjutant General for Nevada, emphasized the importance of all the agencies and civilians working together.
"It's absolutely critical. We can't believe that if we practice this once, we're done with our training," Kirkland said. "Obviously the flurry of earthquakes in this area brought home the reality of this exercise. Nevada is the third most seismic state for larger earthquakes in the nation, after Alaska and California, so this is very much a reality."
State geologist and director of Nevada Bureau of Mines and Geology Jonathan Price put the reality of the exercise into perspective.
"The probability of a 6.0 or greater earthquake occurring in Nevada in the next 50 years is between 65 and 70 percent, " Price said. "The probability of that happening in Wells was only nine percent."
Price added: "The message here is that everywhere in Nevada is earthquake country. Being able to respond quickly is the key to reducing the risks."