Video: "Earthquake" rattles White Rocks Complex

An “earthquake” measuring 5.1 on the Richter scale hit Malta this afternoon. But it was only a simulation.

The “earthquake” badly hit the former White Rocks Complex, which provided the ideal backdrop for the exercise. Civil Protection Department volunteers led by department officials, a small medical team and experts from the German Civil Protection Organisation,carried out the necessary interventions.

Home Affairs Minister Carmelo Mifsud Bonnici visited the operation and stressed the importance of such exercises for the sake of being prepared.

The exercise, he said, was also important because it reflected the coordination that was taking place between Malta and other countries. Lately Malta had strengthened bilateral cooperation on matters of civil protection with several countries including Spain, Germany, France and Italy.

An exercise with the Italian department was planned for later on this year.

Dr Mifsud Bonnici said that on a European level, Malta was insisting on the need for more coordination in the Mediterranean because the natural calamities of this region were different to those of others.

Malta was insisting that a country should be identified to be responsible of coordinating the response of the relevant entities in the Mediterranean, the minister said.