A disaster drill involving dozens of hospitals and thousands of people took place Thursday throughout Central Florida.
Forty hospitals in eight counties participated in the four-hour simulated terrorist attack. It was an attempt to better prepare for a potential disaster.
Matt Meyers of the Florida Department of Health says more than 1,500 student volunteers acted as victims, some wearing makeup to make the situation seem more real.
“We had volunteers from over 60 schools, we worked in eight counties, and did it all simultaneously, so some major accomplishments,” he said.
The drill involved a terrorist attack with multiple events.
“We did a multi-explosion scenario, where we had multiple simulated sites of explosion,” Meyers said. “And we also had an inject of a possible anthrax exposure.”
Disaster drills are run annually, but this was the biggest of its kind ever put on in Central Florida.
