The weeklong meeting in Santiago includes a full-scale emergency reaction to a simulated 9.0 earthquake hit with an epicentre in Santiago.
Venezuela is in a full-scale emergency, as reserves have been dropping; short-term bank interest rates have been soaring, to 120 percent, and the stock market has fallen, 37percentt in the last month.
Any post-mortem, then, seems destined to scrutinize the city's decision not to declare a snow emergency, the transit agency's delay in invoking a full-scale emergency plan, and the seemingly late and limited bid for outside help.
Because of the Christmas holiday, officials did not upgrade the alert to Plan 4, a full-scale emergency response, until Sunday, 18 hours after a blizzard warning had been issued.
Critics have said that the Bloomberg administration's choice not to declare a snow emergency or to ask sooner for private-sector help, as well as the city transit agency's delay in invoking a full-scale emergency plan, meant that thousands of cars, trucks and buses remained mired in snow-clogged streets.
Even given the speed of tragedy, the stormy sea and the length of time it took rescuers to arrive (a full-scale emergency was only declared half an hour after the sinking), survival experts were astonished at the high death toll.
That heavily regulated industry is required to participate in four full-scale emergency response exercises each year.
Authorities staged a full-scale emergency response at Bob Hope Airport Tuesday, an exercise required every three years by the federal government to test readiness in case of a real incident.
Neath Port Talbot Hospital does not have a full scale accident and emergency (A&E) unit, but was able to handle medical emergencies, such as blood clotting or infections, until the changes.
The state began its fourth straight week of a full-scale power emergency, with electricity reserves at, or below, 1.5percentt of demand.
