A two-day emergency drill that aims to test the city's ability to respond to a nuclear accident is no public relations show, the security chief says amid criticism that the exercise is ineffective.
The Daya Bay nuclear emergency drill, which began yesterday and continues today, involves more than 1,000 officers from over 30 government departments. Chief Executive Donald Tsang Yam-kuen and other top government leaders are among the participants. Green activists who showed up unannounced said the overplanned drill allowed only limited public participation while the assumed scenario was too mild.
'There are no risks and there is no chance of anything going wrong. But this is not the reality,' Greenpeace campaigner Prentice Koo Wai-muk said.
Yesterday, the exercise simulated an accident in the Daya Bay nuclear plant in which some radiation leaks were likely or occurring. The government decided to evacuate all people on Ping Chau, which lies along the northeastern border and is within 20 kilometres of Daya Bay. The decision was relayed by a helicopter crew sent to the island.
About 120 evacuees underwent radiation checks and within two hours were taken from the island by police launches or helicopters to Ma Liu Shiu, where more radiation checks awaited them.
About 2,000 pupils from three secondary schools in Tai Po were ordered to stay indoors.