The Kansas Department of Agriculture will lead an emergency preparedness exercise, named Rampart, Dec. 17–20, 2018, in Manhattan, Kansas, to practice the state’s response plan to a foreign animal disease event.

The four-day functional exercise, which will be based out of KDA headquarters in Manhattan, will enable KDA and its partners in other state agencies, federal and local government, industry, university and 16 other states to practice the state’s foreign animal disease response plan. More than 200 individuals will participate in the Rampart exercise, which will be based on a fictional scenario involving the confirmation of foot-and-mouth disease in the United States.

In addition to KDA, which will operate as the Incident Command Post for the exercise, the Kansas Division of Emergency Management and multiple Kansas counties will activate emergency operations centers as part of the Rampart exercise.

(Read more: Hays Post)