RD390 - Virginia Department of Emergency Management (VDEM) 2013 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 2013, VERTEX was a three-part exercise series focusing on State preparedness in the core capabilities areas of critical transportation, operational coordination, operational communication, mass care and public/private services and resources.

The overarching purpose of the 2013 VERTEX series was to test the plan to respond to a large scale event, exercising response operations, traffic management and mass care operations as well 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 learn from the recovery lesson from Hurricane Sandy and apply those lessons to Virginia.