LONDON (AP) -- Emergency services in London will soon simulate a ``catastrophic incident'' to test their ability to deal with terrorist attacks, the government said Monday.
Home Secretary David Blunkett said the exercise would cover mass evacuations and decontaminations and the possibility of a disruption to the national gas supply and flood defenses.
``Future planned exercises will cover a catastrophic incident in central London,'' Blunkett said. ``It will be possible to test whether all key stakeholders are appropriately engaged and working together.''
Blunkett gave no other details of the exercise, saying only it will ``take place shortly.''
Last July, lawmakers warned Britain was ill-prepared to deal with a major terrorist attack. They said fire and ambulance crews lacked the training and equipment necessary to respond to chemical, biological, radiological or nuclear attack, while the military's role in responding to such an attack was not clearly defined.
Blair has said it is ``inevitable'' that Osama bin Laden's al-Qaida network will try to attack Britain.
