Yes, The Walking Dead may be all the rage among genre fans, but as we all know, the CDC recently reiterated that there is currently no known virus capable of causing zombie-like symptoms or outbreaks.
Then again, certain government agencies continue to use fictitious zombie threats as a deliberate device to encourage the masses to prepare for real threats such as earthquakes and other natural disasters.
The idea is that if your zombie survival kit is packed and ready to go; odds are it will help you survive just about any other natural disaster that may befall the world.
Interestingly, the annual Counter-Terrorism Summit in San Diego will be taking this concept one step further this October.
The exercise – hosted by security firm HALO Corp – is slated to be held on a 44-acre island in the city’s Mission Bay section.
Rather than just go with the standard bad guy, HALO Corp has opted to embrace the Halloween spirit by dubbing the event “zombie Apocalypse.”
According to HALO Corp President Brad Barker, hosting the annual counter-terrorism exercise event over the Halloween weekend was too big of a temptation for him to resist.
“We’ve decided to throw a whimsical spin on a very well-respected training exercise,” Barker told FoxNews.com. “And in order to have an effective exercise, you have to have a crisis or a threat that makes everyone respond.”
Barker also confirmed that the exercises will combine standard mock terrorism scenarios with rural and urban environments. However, the event will also have zombies that Barker says are worthy of a Hollywood set.
“They’re going to look like the walking dead… It’s going to be pretty scary looking; this is going to be a real treat.”
Barker says the techniques, tactics, and procedures state and local authorities use to deal with the mock zombie apocalypse will be very similar to those they’ll use when responding to a real act of terrorism, natural disaster, or pandemic.
“Whatever the catalyst is for a mass casualty event, nobody really cares… What you’ve got is chaos, mass casualties and a whole lot of confusion. What we’re looking to do is to recreate the chaos,” he added.
