Earlier today (23 November), armed Mongolian soldiers were deployed around Ulaanbaatar’s Thermal Power Plant IV to protect it from attack. Fortunately, the operation was not real but an emergency response training for workers of the plant as well as the army. The drills were organized by the National Emergency Management Agency (NEMA). Over 140 specialists participated in the disaster response training. Central to the exercises was ensuring that everyone knew what to do and how to respond in a real ‘red alert situation’ and ensuring the operation of emergency equipment and standby systems.

The training will continue tomorrow for protection us from disaster and consolidating the knowledge of Plant IV staff and the army.

In a country where winter temperatures can reach below -40 deg C, IV Thermal Power Plant is an object of key strategic importance: it provides 70 percent of the electricity for the central regions of Mongolia, and 65 percent of the thermal power consumption of Ulaanbaatar.

The training exercise continues NEMA’s recent series of large-scale responses to hypothetical disasters. Recently, several thousand Mongolians took part in a scenario involving mass migration following a natural disaster.