'Casualties' on the ground near the site of a simulated tank farm explosion Monday in Iqaluit. (Patricia Bell/CBC)Iqaluit was the site of a mock disaster on Monday as various federal, territorial and city officials tested their emergency response measures in the Nunavut capital.

Hundreds of people from various agencies — including the RCMP, the Canadian Forces, the Canada Border Services Agency and the City of Iqaluit — took part in the simulated exercise as part of Operation Nanook, the Canadian Forces' annual exercise in the eastern Arctic.

Monday's exercise involved a simulated explosion at the municipal tank farm, which stores fuel for the entire city.

Emergency crews rushed to help 20 men and women who acted as casualties, including four fatalities, during the mock explosion.

"We all learn from our mistakes," Matthew Evans of the Iqaluit Fire Department told CBC News during Monday's exercise.

"You're never going to get 100 per cent the first time. If you do, there's no sense training."

Should a community ever lose its tank farm in a disaster, it could result in the community being evacuated, said Ed Zebedee, director of protection services for the Nunavut government.

Community involvement

But unlike the simulated exercise, Zebedee said the public would also offer to help out in a real-life emergency.

"If there's an emergency in the North, in any of our communities, everybody comes out to assist," he said.

"We get private citizens showing up donating equipment, snowmobiles to assist in an emergency."

The Canadian Rangers would also get involved. But during Monday's exercise, a group of Rangers was seen sitting on the sidelines, with some frustrated they weren't given a larger role.

The City of Iqaluit participated in the emergency exercise this year for the first time, testing its own emergency preparedness plan.

"The only way to kind of understand if you're on the right track is to do these exercises, so I was determined that the city would be involved to some extent this year," said Mayor Elisapee Sheutiapik.

Increase in air traffic

Emergency workers carry away 'casualties' from the site of the simulated tank farm explosion. (Patricia Bell/CBC)At the Iqaluit airport, manager John Graham said preparing for disasters, such as a plane crash, is important given a continuing growth in air traffic over the North.

Graham said about 70,000 airplanes on four polar routes pass over the Canadian North every year.

Air traffic has increased 50 per cent in Iqaluit alone, from less than 15,000 aircraft on scheduled flights in 1999 to almost 22,000 last year, Graham said, adding that the numbers don't include charters, international flights or military aircraft.

"Passenger movements have increased from around 65,000 to 70,000 thousand in 1999, and last year we were probably around 125,000 [passengers]," he said.

Graham said the airport's runways and infrastructure are a good size and can handle the plane traffic.

At the same time, he said, the airport terminal building is too small for all the passengers coming in, and it's in the wrong location.

There is a planning process underway to look at what can he done, Graham said.