Is the south ready for the worst?

All of the south's utilities, travel centres such as ports and airports, as well as commercial centres, are today tight-lipped on exact details about any counter-terrorist measures.

But the message to the public is that security is paramount, although there is no need to panic.

The first threat emerged last week when French and Dutch security services warned terrorists would attempt to board a ferry in a truck loaded with explosives.

All sea ports across the UK, including Southampton, were put on heightened vigilance amid fears of a pre-Christmas attack in Great Britain by Al Qaeda.

It is ferry ports such as Portsmouth that have been especially instructed to increase security measures but all maritime gateways have been told by the government to be on their guard.

Should any attack take place in the south, emergency services and hospitals have behind-the-scenes plans in place ready to cope with any possible incident.

FROM chemical contamination to bomb blast victims, Hampshire's hospitals have been working to make sure they can treat the casualties of any kind of terrorist attack.

Staff have regularly rehearsed emergency procedures, which have been reviewed since September 11.

Southampton General Hospital spokeswoman Marilyn Kay said: "We have very robust major incident plans which are regularly checked and reviewed and have been recently updated. They are flexible to meet whatever problem we're dealing with, for instance, if it was chemical weapons we would have to adapt it with the burns unit.

"We've had instructions on what to do in the event of an anthrax attack and how to treat

contaminated patients. Our staff are kept constantly aware of what to do and are ready at all times to invoke those major incident plans."

Portsmouth's Queen Alexandra Hospital is on particularly high alert, given that the naval bases around the city could be possible targets for an attack.

Hospital spokeswoman Pat Forsyth said: "Portsmouth Hospital is a receiving hospital in the event of any major incident and we constantly review our incident plans. We are watching the current news carefully and we will be talking to other people within the local health economy and emergency services and making sure we are ready.

"We have to be able to cope with anything. We have a decontamination unit like all the big hospitals in the area."

Louise Halfpenny, spokeswoman for Winchester's Royal Hampshire County Hospital, explained how a temporary accident and emergency department would be set up in the event of a terrorist attack to keep casualties separate from other patients.

In the event of chemical warfare, "inflatable showers" would be set up outside the hospital, well away from other casualties, so staff wearing protective clothing could decontaminate patients.

Mrs Halfpenny said: "We test the communications for our major incident plan regularly and they were tested last month. We check all the emergency numbers we've got for staff to make sure they are all correct and working.

"We have reviewed our major incident plan just to make sure the things we do are going to go smoothly."

HAMPSHIRE'S emergency services are confident they can cope with any kind of terrorist attack that hits the county.

The police, fire and ambulance services meet regularly with each other and local authorities to discuss their plans for dealing with the aftermath of a terrorist act.

They also stage regular exercises - on paper and in practice - to test their responses to major disasters.

In September, emergency services, councils, health services and journalists got together to act out an imaginary but very true-to-life scenario - a light aircraft crash over Hampshire - at a two-day training event called Livex 2002.

Hampshire Police spokesman Kevin Briscoe said: "We are constantly reviewing our emergency procedures and have table-top and real-time exercises about four times a year. The situation in the world has changed since September 11 so we have reviewed our procedures and made any amendments we felt necessary.

"We are very well prepared should there be any sort of incident and well-rehearsed procedures will swing into place."

David Askew, spokesman for Hampshire Fire and Rescue, said: "We've got contingency plans for all sorts of emergencies so a terrorist attack is certainly one of those. We've had three exercises this year working with the other emergency services - the most recent was on a ferry while the other two were in the county.

"We're confident we can manage any crisis that may occur."

HAMPSHIRE'S utility companies - supplying our gas, electricity and water - have also been preparing themselves for the possibility of terrorist action.

Southern Electric spokesman Denis Kerby said: "We've reviewed all our plans since September 11 and are in constant contact with our trade body, the Electricity Association, which disseminates information from the government on what steps we should take.

"We have looked again at all of our sites, where we already have a very high level of security."

Mr Kerby said all staff must wear identification badges and use swipe cards to get into Southern Electric's offices, while all their cars are monitored in the company's car parks.

All substations have CCTV, which is monitored 24-hours from a control centre in Portsmouth.

Mr Kerby added: "The electricity network is vital so we have taken measures to protect the network and our users and staff."

Geoff Aspel, spokesman for gas company Transco, said: "Transco has for many years been alert to its responsibilities as the main transporter of gas in the UK, and constantly reviews its plans regarding the security of its pipelines, storage and continuity of supply. We have people within the company who constantly monitor the situation and liase with the police and relevant government departments."

Rebecca Burgess from Southern Water said the company has safety procedures in place to deal with any emergency, which are worked out in conjunction with Hampshire County Council and Southampton City Council.

She added: "They are already reviewed regularly but more so since September 11."

Southampton Docks' main activities centre around global container traffic, cruise ships, vehicle imports and exports and bulk cargoes although there is a regular roll-on/roll-off link with Santander in Spain.

There have been reports that all ports with roll-on/roll-off facilities were ordered on to a "heightened emergency'' level of alert, the highest level provided for in the system.

But a Downing Street spokesman said: "It is not true that a new general warning has been issued in relation to ferry travel and nobody should change their travel plans as a result.''

A spokesman for Associated British Ports, which owns and operates Southampton Docks, said: "We can confirm that, as a matter of course, we regularly receive notices from the Department for Transport and its divisions, including Transport Security.

"We can also confirm that we are regularly in touch with the government on security matters at our ports. However, it is not our company policy to discuss security issues.''

Southampton International Airport was also equally reticent about elaborating on its security measures.

"Safety and security at Southampton International remains our highest priority and we are continuing to maintain high levels of vigilance and we are working closely with all relevant authorities,'' said an airport spokesman.

Martin Putman, port manager at Portsmouth ferry port, said: "In response to a communication from Transec, the Department for Transport's security division, last week, Portsmouth, along with other ports around the country, has tightened up security levels and increased its searches of freight traffic."

Southampton's Itchen MP and Home Office minister John Denham confirmed a call for

vigilance had gone out to ports last week.

He insisted, however, that it was not in response to any specific intelligence about an attack, but was part of the government's efforts to raise levels of awareness.

There was a row last week when the Home Office issued - then immediately withdrew - a statement containing vivid warnings of the threat of attacks on the UK transport system, including ships, possibly involving "dirty'' nuclear bombs. Mr Denham said: "The information that went out last week was part of reminding people of the need for heightened awareness that has been true since September 11 last year."

IN tomorrow's Daily Echo, how would your local authority cope with a terrorist attack?