Defense exercise in case of a massive accident due to volcanic eruption

Over 200 people took part in a defense exercise at the defense area in Reykjanesbær yesterday, where the response to a group accident due to a volcanic eruption was practiced. The exercise was part of Norður Víkingur, a 1,200-person military exercise that has been going on for the past few days and will end today.

15 people played patients, many of them from Landsbjörg, who had received injuries due to a volcanic eruption and facilities were set up in the defense area to receive them. In addition to medical personnel from the US Army, there were six from the Landspítali National Hospital response team and six from the Suðurnes Health Institute.

"These have been big injuries. There was one who got hit in the face by a rock and had a serious head injury as a result. Another person who got a plume of smoke - a plume of steam from a volcanic eruption - in his face and therefore got serious poisoning, says Þórdís Edda Hjartardóttir, emergency nurse at Landspítali, in an interview with mbl.is about the "injuries".

One played a patient who died

Hjartardóttir is part of LSH's response team that provides support and advice to emergency responders in the district and performs the tasks requested in the event of a group accident. The team includes one emergency physician and two emergency nurses.

"We support health institutions abroad if there are major accidents."

Facilities were available for those requiring surgery and there were surgeons on site from the US Army. There was then one actor who had to play a patient who died from his injuries.

"Unfortunately, the truth is that in such serious accidents, there is a very high chance that someone will have such serious injuries that they will not survive," she says.

Health care workers benefit from defensive exercises

Do Icelandic health workers learn a lot from such exercises?

"Yes, definitely. To see the equipment they have and get ideas on how we can improve our equipment. Especially the response team that just goes to every place in the country and needs to be able to have good equipment to do what we have to do on site.

Also, one of our doctors is a helicopter doctor, so she is also looking at what they can improve on the helicopter."

Military support would be necessary in a large mass casualty

Hjartardóttir says that from 2020 onwards, group disaster plans have been reviewed again due to the volcanic eruptions on the Reykjanes Peninsula and seen how the response would be if there were losses to people due to volcanic eruptions. It is therefore a good idea to take part in an exercise that is precisely aimed at caring for people who are supposed to have had an accident due to a volcanic eruption.

She says it's clear that if there was a major mass casualty in the country, the help of soldiers in the defense area would be needed. To shoot on a cruise ship or in the Blue Lagoon.

"There were 1,300 people in the Blue Lagoon when the eruption started. If it had gotten serious there, we wouldn't have been able to handle 1,300 people at once, and then it would have been very important to get help from the army to set up our own hospital," she says.

The exercise went well

Hjartardóttir says that the exercise went well and that it was interesting to observe how the army behaves.

People from Landspítali, Suðurnes Health Institute (HSS), the Metropolitan Fire Brigade, civil defense and the Coast Guard, among others, came to the exercise together with the US Army.

The defensive exercise Norður Víkingur started last week and will end today. The exercise is held on the basis of the bilateral defense agreement between Iceland and the United States from 1951 and normally takes place every two years.