The General Directorate of Civil Protection organizes a large-scale national first aid and rescue exercise simulating the occurrence of a strong earthquake in the state of Bouira, under the title SESMEX. BouiraDuring the period from 07 to 12 February 2026. Within the framework of implementing the practical activity plan of the General Directorate of Civil Protection for the year 2026, and as an assessment of the ability of civil protection services to mobilize and respond in the event of disasters and crises,
The scenarios are Exercise An earthquake with a magnitude of 6.7 on the Richter scale occurred in the south-eastern part of the state of Bouira, with an epicenter located 14 km from the municipality of Oued Al-Bardi. The earthquake directly affected the municipalities of Oued Al-Bardi, Bouira, Al-Idlam, and Sour Al-Ghazal, which led to casualties and missing people, and multiple events were recorded, including the collapse of buildings, the collapse of dam walls, serious traffic accidents resulting from the earthquake, subsidence of floors, derailment of railway cars, explosions, Leakage of hazardous materials and other emergency scenarios.
In such circumstances, the situation requires taking a set of urgent measures and decisions, especially at the local level, after field identification operations and the number of calls received at the practical coordination center, by activating the state rescue plan, by mobilizing all the human and material resources included in this plan, in addition to activating the operational command centers for coordination between the civil protection services, the fixed command center, and the operational command center, For the first time, a veterinary medical center will be established To deal with accidents and injuries that search dogs may be exposed to while performing tasks, Building risk assessment teams have also been created A group of 70 officers who received special training on building risk assessment during the year 2025.
Then the alert level will be raised to the second level at the local level with the recruitment of support and initial intervention teams, and at the international level the necessary measures will be taken to integrate international rescue teams if necessary, by providing an international zone with the commitment of 03 national teams to establish devices that can receive international teams and ensure coordination between them when they arrive in the field, which requires the integration of liaison officers in establishing a link between the departments of the various security services in ports and airports in order to process the necessary procedures for foreign teams within the framework of international assistance.
The objectives set by the experts and organizers are:
Evaluating the response time of civil protection services in cases of large-scale disasters, unifying the techniques and operational methods adopted, evaluating the operational organization in the use of large human and material means, measuring the effectiveness of the developed operational equipment and procedures, evaluating coordination between the national and international operational systems when they are activated together, evaluating the flow of operational information using digital platforms designated for this purpose, especially between the various cells charged with managing this exercise and following up on the status of progress of operations at the maneuver sites, as well as creating a database for the crew responsible for running the exercise and referring to experiences. At the end of the exercise.
In this context, on Monday, February 9, 2026, the Minister of the Interior, Local Communities, Urban Development and Transport, Mr. Said Saioud, accompanied by the Director General of Civil Protection, Colonel Boualem Bouglaf, and in the presence of the Governor of Bouira State and the military, security and civil authorities, will observe in the field the progress of practical exercises in the training sites.
This event represents an opportunity to highlight the operational and organizational capabilities and level of professionalism enjoyed by civil protection services in effectively responding to disaster situations, the progress achieved in developing human capabilities and knowledge, and the continuous preparation of means and capabilities to ensure immediate response in emergency situations. The exercise also confirms the firm and recognized commitment nationally and internationally through the participation of Algerian civil protection services in intervention and rescue missions during disasters outside the country.
Participate in this unique gathering 6003 An intervention element from the civil protection services at all ranks, within 44 initial support and intervention teams distributed among the following specializations: command teams, underground search and rescue teams, water and underwater diving teams, search and rescue teams in rugged areas, trained dog teams, intervention cells for nuclear, radiological, biological and chemical hazards (NRBC), disaster medicine units, communications and logistical means, in addition to the participation of a detachment from the National School as an observation team. So, 549 field maneuvers will be conducted during the exercise period by various stakeholders.
It is worth noting that the technical supervision of the exercise will be by senior officers from the General Directorate of Civil Protection who specialize in the field of crisis and disaster management.
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