RD307 - Virginia Department of Emergency Management (VDEM) 2012 Virginia Emergency Response Team Exercise (VERTEX) After-Action Report


Executive Summary:
The annual Virginia Emergency Response Team Exercise (VERTEX) series is intended to prepare the Commonwealth of Virginia for potential threats by measuring current capabilities, policies, and procedures against the requirements to properly mitigate, respond to, and recover from man-made and natural disasters impacting the Commonwealth. In 2012, VERTEX was a three-part exercise series focusing on State preparedness in the core capabilities areas of critical transportation, operational coordination, planning and public/private services and resources.

The overarching purpose of the 2012 VERTEX series was to develop and test a strategy to respond to and manage a large crowd and traffic incident exercising the traffic control infrastructure, electrical power and communications systems. This was done through definition of the threat, identification of vulnerable sectors and processes, assessment of impacts and evaluation of potential countermeasures, in accordance with Virginia Code § 44-146.17:2. The purpose of the Recovery and Restoration Workshop was to provide information sharing on the plans and processes in place to direct power and communications restoration after an incident.