Wuhan power outage simulation appears eerily similar to 2019 coronavirus exercise

The infamous city of Wuhan, China conducted a massive emergency power outage simulation late last month, according to official Chinese Communist Party (CCP) news outlet Xinhua News Agency. The exercise has triggered concern about the drill’s ultimate purpose and implications, particularly since the city also carried out a novel coronavirus simulation just months before the global outbreak of COVID-19 in Wuhan, the very same city.

The November 28 drill, which simulated a “natural disaster caused by severe convective weather” and was “based on the actual situation in Wuhan City,” involved 22 units and departments of the Wuhan government, Xinhuanet reported.

According to the outlet, the simulation imitated the effects of a large-scale power grid outage in which “people were trapped, companies were forced to suspend production and reduce production, airports, hospitals, subways, communications, etc. were severely affected,” all of which significantly impacted “the production and life of people and companies in this region.”

Participating units and governmental departments deployed simulated emergency response efforts “to avoid secondary disasters after the grounding of airport planes, subway outage, hospital power outage, and high-rise residential elevator outage due to line disconnection, tower collapse, and transformer damage.” They also simulated the allocation of “rescue resources and restore production and life in an orderly manner.”

According to Xinhuanet, the tabletop exercise “fully demonstrated the superb skills and advanced equipment of the emergency rescue team of State Grid Wuhan Power Supply Company.” The simulation is set to be used to “strengthen the linkage between government and enterprises, create a power emergency response management system with Wuhan characteristics, eliminate safety hazards in a timely manner, and ensure the safe and stable operation of Wuhan’s power grid.”

The large-scale simulation isn’t necessarily unique to Wuhan or unusual in itself.

Earlier in November, authorities conducted a much smaller exercise involving a simulated power outage in the Wan Chai district of Hong Kong to “enhance collaboration, prevention, and emergency preparedness in handling local emergencies,” The Standard reported.

But Chinese-born human rights activist and author Jennifer Zeng, who reportedly survived being tortured for her practice of Falun Gong and has frequently spoken out about the CCP, said she didn’t have a good feeling about the power outage simulation, particularly given its scale and location in Wuhan.

She noted that, 30 days before the Military World Games in Wuhan in 2019 and just months before the outbreak of COVID-19 worldwide, Wuhan had also hosted a preparedness exercise … this time simulating “the entire process of handling a new coronavirus infection.”

In the simulation, according to a September 19, 2019 official report published by Chutian Transportation Broadcasting and reprinted on Sina.com, “’a passenger on the incoming aircraft was unwell, in respiratory distress, and had unstable vital signs.’ The airport customs immediately launched an emergency plan, quickly carried out case transfer and aircraft sanitation, and conducted close contact inspections” and monitored “infected persons and general contacts.”

“Two hours later, the Wuhan Emergency Center reported that the transferred case had been clinically diagnosed as a new coronavirus,” the report reads.

Another official report from September 2019 states that the simulation “practiced epidemiological investigation, medical investigation, and temporary quarantine,” as well as “isolation and testing, case transfer and sanitation treatment and other aspects.”

“So after this large-scale power outage drill, what might happen next?” Zeng asked in a post on X, formerly Twitter. “I don’t feel quite good about it.”