Crown Princess Victoria participates in defence exercise

Crown Princess Victoria took part in an evacuation drill in Gotland County, strengthening the ability to protect the population during a heightened state of preparedness.

When an emergency strikes, there is little to no time to think about what to grab or where to go. That is why planning and preparedness are key to any emergency plan. Crown Princess Victoria of Sweden had a first-hand experience of what it is like to be evacuated from your livelihood during a total-defence exercise”RSÖ26-Utry’’.

The event tested Gotland’s evacuation plan and strengthened the county’s ability to protect the population during a heightened state of preparedness.

Throughout the day, the Crown Princess joined over 200 volunteers as they moved from a fictitious risk area to locations where civil defence organisations, Region Gotland employees, and the County Administrative Board assisted.

A central part of the evacuation exercise was the so-called reception chain — the path from when a person leaves their home, via a collection point, to being received at a reception site. The reception site’s main responsibility is to ensure people in need receive food, support, and the necessary care before they are transferred to temporary accommodation.

There is an enormous and extensive amount of work behind what we see today, and it has been going on for a long time. The fact that we can now actually carry out this exercise is the result of solid planning work to develop and test the county evacuation plan that now forms the basis for our efforts. — Frida Blixt, Emergency Response Strategist and Region Gotland’s exercise leader.

Crown Princess Victoria later joined representatives of the Civil Defence Agency, the Armed Forces, the Swedish Transport Administration, and others to visit a nearby location where the Swedish Transport Administration had practised building a temporary emergency bridge. This resource can be used in a crisis or war to strengthen the ability to maintain the transport of people and goods.

Evacuating parts of a county is a large and complicated operation. It places extremely high demands on the organisations involved and is a transformative event for individuals forced to leave their homes and livelihoods. Regional Director Stefan Hollmark emphasises the importance of close cooperation during the exercise. The overall message is that the exercise is not a signal of a current threat, but a responsible effort to protect the population if necessary.