NM holds emergency response exercise

ALBUQUERQUE (KRQE) - Hurricane Katrina in New Orleans sent tens of thousands of refugees to several states including Texas. Now, Albuquerque is now preparing to accept disaster patients in case a new disaster strikes.

The Albuquerque Office of Emergency Management is holding a full scale disaster exercise and hundreds of people are taking part.

It will take place at 17 different locations throughout the city including the Albuquerque International Sunport, the Emergency Operations cCenter and all major hospitals throughout the city.

The exercise starts Thursday morning at the Sunport where 25 "fake" patients will be coming in on AC130 as part of the emergency drill.

Then the UNM hospital will be ready for those 25 patients and any other surprises.

“As with any disaster there is always that curve that's thrown in there, there are always those folks that self evacuate, there are always those folks that are un plan for and that's really a true test in emergency preparedness is planning for those unprepared situations,” Rob Perry said.

The exercise is not just to prepare for hurricanes; the same systems would be used if there was another natural disaster or terrorist attack

The exercise will start at about 8 a.m. and last through Thursday afternoon.