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Last updated at: (Beijing Time) Tuesday, May 13, 2003

US Begins Homeland Security Drill

The United States began a five-day homeland drill Monday to test the country's ability to respond to terrorist attacks.


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The United States began a five-day homeland drill Monday to test the country's ability to respond to terrorist attacks.

The drill, began in Seattle, Washington State, with the explosion of a "dirty bomb", the dispersal of radioactive materialby conventional explosives.

Smashed cars, buses and other debris littered an industrial lotin Seattle to represent the aftermath of the explosion. The explosion was supposed to cause more than 100 "casualties."

Radiation was to be detected near the blast's crater, triggering a response from federal officials.

The drill, which is overseen by the Department of Homeland Security in conjunction with the State Department, will cost an estimated 16 million dollars and involve about 8,500 officials from more than 100 local, state and federal agencies, the AmericanRed Cross and agencies from the Canadian government.

It is the first large-scale counterterrorism exercise since theSept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks in the United States.

On Thursday, a simulated biological attack will unfold in Chicago, Illinois, some 2,735 kilometers (1,700 miles) away from Seattle. Over the next few days, a number of "patients" with flu-like symptoms will show up at hospitals in the Chicago area.

A detailed, 200-page scenario has been written for the drill, which officials said will be as realistic-looking as possible. Stand-ins will portray President George W. Bush and Vice PresidentDick Cheney.

Letters and public service advertisements were issued during the weekend to tell residents in both cities about drills.

No explosives or harmful devices will be used during the drill,but participants are expected to fill the roles they would have ina real emergency.

Homeland Security Chief Tom Ridge will remain in the White House to keep President George W. Bush, who is visiting several USstates this week, informed by telephone.

Ridge said the exercise is to "measure and analyze a response to a terrorist attack."

Twenty months after the Sept. 11 attacks, efforts are accelerating in the United States to enable states and cities to respond aggressively the next time terrorists strike on a large scale.


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