Jason Woodward reports on the preparations being made in Sussex to deal with potential terrorist attacks.

A plane crash at Gatwick, a terrorist attack at Withdean Stadium and a bomb threat in Brighton's Churchill Square have been just a few of the mock disasters organised in recent years.

Such live exercises are part of the on-going training for a wide variety of organisations and agencies to test their responses in the event of a real-life major incident.

The largest multi-agency exercise could involve the police, ambulance service, fire brigade and local authorities, as well as possibly the coastguard, Environment Agency and any one of the utilities.

The work of emergency planners across Sussex has gained increased scrutiny following the attacks in the US two weeks ago.

A meeting of the Sussex Police emergency-planning steering group has been arranged for October 12, which will discuss the attacks in the US and their implications for Sussex.

In the last fortnight new directives have been issued to health authorities calling on them to check their procedures for dealing with mass casualties and to ensure key personnel are available.

David Rowley, emergency planning officer for Brighton and Hove City Council, said the terrorist attacks had put the importance of emergency planning into sharper focus.

He said: "Our job is to think the unthinkable but what happened in New York was beyond unthinkable. The attacks have certainly hiked up everybody's awareness of what is possible."

He was keen to reassure the public that the local authorities and emergency services had plans in place to deal with any incident.

Mr Rowley said: "All the different agencies know each other and work well together. We know exactly what each of us can produce and how we can respond."

His call for calm was echoed by Inspector John Dunkling, emergency planning officer for Sussex Police, who insisted emergency planning in the county was among the best in the UK.

He said: "We are confident within Sussex we have firmly established links between the agencies which are up there with the best of them. Of course there is always room for improvement but we have a very good structure.

"The bottom line is that you cannot prepare for incidents like New York. All you can do is make sure any response is coordinated and that all the different agencies will work together."

One of the greatest fears among the public since the attacks in the US is the threat of biological or chemical attack.

Yesterday, the World Health Organisation called on governments to speed up their preparations for possible germ warfare attacks.

America has already grounded crop-dusting planes amid fears they could be used to spread chemical or biological agents.

The fears have even spread to Sussex where army surplus shops have reported a massive increase in sales of gas masks.

A spokesman for the Combat Zone army store in Burgess Hill said: "Sales have gone through the roof. We quickly sold out of all our English gas masks and only have the Russian models left.

"We keep trying to tell people that the masks won't protect them as nerve agents enter through the skin but people are panic buying."

Insp Dunkling insisted it was important to put the threat of terrorist attack into context and that any chemical attack was considered extremely unlikely.

He said: "Although we recognise the terrorists have shown how far they are prepared to go, as far as we are concerned the threat of nuclear, biological, or chemical attack in Sussex is very low.

"This is based on the intelligence available about the capability of terrorist groups. People should not be worried. Even if such an attack occurs we have the structure to respond to it quickly and effectively."

Mr Rowley said emergency planners did not dismiss the threat but had organised their planned response as far as possible.

He said: "Chemical or biological attacks have been taken seriously ever since the nerve gas attack in the Tokyo underground a few years ago. However, we have generic plans which can be adapted to suit any incident."

Andrew Partington, spokesman for East Sussex, Brighton and Hove Health Authority, said: "In the event of a major incident every single hospital has an emergency plan it can draw on. There are planned responses to just about anything you can think of.

"Our main responsibility will be to ensure the staff are available in hospitals. If necessary everyone can be called in. We have our own specialist in infectious and contagious diseases but we can also draw on the Public Health Laboratory."