Travnik today hosted one of the largest demonstration exercises of the protection and rescue system in the Central Bosnia Canton, during which the readiness of the services to act in the event of an earthquake and other crisis situations was demonstrated through several complex scenarios.
The demonstration exercise “Laštva 26 – Demonstration of the operational capabilities of the protection and rescue system in the event of an earthquake” was held in the Alley of the Consuls and the area of the barracks of the Armed Forces of Bosnia and Herzegovina in Travnik, with the participation of numerous institutions, rescue services, health institutions and security structures.
Through the simulation of a strong earthquake measuring 6.3 on the Richter scale, the activities of the Municipal Civil Protection Headquarters, coordination of emergency services, rescuing victims from rubble, firefighting, medical care of the injured, police interventions, as well as helicopter medical evacuation were demonstrated.
The special attention of those present was attracted by the actions of the Travnik Professional Fire Department and the Travnik Mountain Rescue Service, whose members demonstrated rescuing people from difficult-to-access buildings using the cable car system, while emergency medical teams performed triage, care and transport of injured people.
The exercise also included a simulation of a serious traffic accident with several injured people, technical rescue of trapped victims from vehicles, as well as a security incident that included the intervention of members of the Armed Forces of Bosnia and Herzegovina and the Specialist Support Unit of the Ministry of the Interior of the Balkans.
A significant segment of the activities also related to the establishment of alternative communication systems in conditions of power outages and interruption of standard connections. The Travnik Radio Club established a radio connection between field teams and the Civil Protection Operations Center, while teams from the SBK/KSB Public Health Institute carried out hygienic and epidemiological measures and water sampling in the area of the simulated accident.
The Mayor of Travnik Municipality and Commander of the Municipal Civil Protection Headquarters, Kenan Dautović, emphasized that the exercise is a confirmation of a serious approach to building an efficient protection and rescue system.
“Today’s exercise showed that institutions, services and organizations in the Travnik area can respond to even the most complex crisis situations in a joint, organized and coordinated manner. Our goal was not only to demonstrate equipment and procedures, but above all to check the readiness of people who are available to citizens every day. The safety of citizens must remain a priority for all institutions,” said Dautović.
He added that such activities are of particular importance for improving mutual cooperation, exchanging experiences and further strengthening the operational capacities of all services involved in the protection and rescue system.
Throughout the exercise, citizens received official information and notifications about activities in the field via the E-Travnik application, which also demonstrated the importance of digital communication in crisis management.
The Civil Protection Service, including the Professional Fire Department of the Municipality of Travnik, the Police Station of Travnik, the Specialist Support Unit of the MUP of the SBK, the Armed Forces of Bosnia and Herzegovina, the Health Center of Travnik, the Ju Hospital of Travnik, the Red Cross of Travnik, the Mountain Rescue Service of Travnik, the Institute of Public Health SBK/KSB, the Radio Club of Travnik, the company “Teling” d.o.o. participated in the implementation of the demonstration exercise. Travnik, as well as other services and organizations that operate in the protection and rescue system, was announced by the Municipality of Travnik.
