IN CASE OF EMERGENCY; Dossier details how to react if terrorist strike city centre.

Byline: ADAM JUPP

FAMILIES living on Tyneside are set to receive a dossier detailing how to react in the event of a terror strike.

The Newcastle City Centre Evacuation Plan explains how emergency services will respond if the we were to come under attack.

It advises households and businesses how best to prepare for a major incident and warns the city could be a target for global terrorist gangs.

As previously reported in the Chronicle, the plan has been drawn up by police, Newcastle City Council and other emergency services and it set to land on the doormats of houses throughout Newcastle. Newcastle Area Commander Chief Supt Graham Smith, inset, said: "People will shortly be receiving an evacuation map and information brochure, and I encourage them to read it thoroughly and keep it in a safe place.

"Although we all hope, naturally, that this never becomes a reality, Newcastle is a key UK city and we need to be prepared."

Businesses and organisations across the city have already received their evacuation plan dossier, which advises them how to create 'safe spaces' within their buildings and to prepare evacuation points, as well as keeping up-to-date staff lists.

Now, households will be receiving theirs which includes a map showing how the city centre is divided into 16 segments. Each zone has had its own detailed portrait drawn up, and partner agencies have drawn up a strategy for the evacuation of each zone.

Newcastle City Council Executive Member for Environment, Sustainability and Transport, Coun Wendy Taylor, said: "I urge anyone who picks up the City Centre Evacuation Plan to read it carefully as it is full of good information that will minimize injuries and damage to property while helping to get the city back to normality as quickly as possible."

CAPTION(S):

DRILL: Police taking part in a mock chemical terror attack in the city

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