The full-scale live drill Hurricane Exercise 2025 (HUREX 2025), that took place on
Tuesday, June 17, 2025, has concluded with Emergency Support
Functions (ESFs), partners and stakeholders testing their
operational processes and protocols for an emergency response to
an incident.
The drill took place along the Airport Road and Simpson Bay
Lagoon area where the multi-scenario entailed an aircraft carrying
321 passengers and crew crashing into the Simpson Bay Lagoon
after breaching the perimeter fence during landing.
In this multi-event scenario, the ESFs and Emergency Operations
Center (EOC) also had to deal with a vehicle being struck carrying
very important persons (VIPs) which happened when the aircraft
breached the airport grounds and crossed the roadway into the
lagoon.
At the same time a category 5 hurricane was 60-hours away from
making landfall.
Various emergency services and military vehicles, vessels from the
Dutch Caribbean Coast Guard and the airport as well as personnel
from various governmental and non-governmental entities (e.g.
Red Cross, Windward Islands Emergency Services WIEMS) took
part in the training exercise.
This training exercise was organized to test protocols and
procedures, and preparedness of the national disaster response
system to an incident or natural disaster.
The HUREX exercise included the 10 Emergency Support Functions
(ESFs) of the national disaster system.