Maui Memorial Medical Center will be the only non-Oahu hospital participating in a mock disaster exercise Friday as part of the U.S. Navy's ongoing Rim of the Pacific international exercises in Hawaii.
Military ships, planes and personnel from 22 nations are participating in RIMPAC -- the world's largest naval exercise, conducted in Hawaiian waters every two years.
Friday's RIMPAC exercise will center around Operation: Restore Chianti, in which Hawaii serves as the fictional nation of Chianti that is hit with a massive tsunami triggered by a 9.0 earthquake in Chile.
Participants will be responding to substantial damage to coastal infrastructure, human injuries and casualties as part of the exercise.
Maui Memorial Medical Center will be one of 13 hospitals to provide casualty care for the disaster scenario, including helicopter landings, patient transport and caring for mock injuries molded from rubber or latex.
The exercise will only involve Maui Memorial's Emergency Room staff.
Large, twin-engine Sea Hawk military helicopters will perform drill landings and take-offs Thursday afternoon between 1 and 3 p.m. at Maui Memorial. The helicopters are expected to transport mock patients around the same time on Friday.
