A three-day simulation is being held in Indonesia, the country with the world's highest human death toll from bird flu. The purpose of this drill is to test people’s ability to deal with a pandemic triggered by the virus and to inform them on how they should handle things if their poultry gets infested.

The event is taking place in the Tukaddaya village outside Jembrana on the resort island Bali. On Friday it involved 1000 people, from simple citizens to policemen or even government officials, as Reuters points out.

"This is to show to the world that we are ready, that we are prepared," declared Nyoman Kandun, director-general of communicable disease control at the health ministry, according to Reuters.

Since the bird flu outbreak in late 2003, there have been recorded 107 human deaths in Indonesia, the worldwide total being of 240 recorded fatalities. The government has been criticized for failing to fight the spread of the virus, which is now endemic in poultry in all except two of the country’s 33 provinces, reports the Associated Press.

The United Nations' Food and Agriculture Organisation (FAO) declared last month that Indonesian efforts do not suffice in the action of containing bird flu and that outer help is needed.

During the exercise, poultry was culled and buried in infected areas and the village is due to be quarantined on Saturday, reports Reuters. The simulation continues Sunday at the Bali airport which will be equipped with body-heat detectors to screen potential infections among travelers, adds Reuters.

The most frequent way of contracting the H5N1 virus is the contact with sick fowl.

Despite the fact that the flu is hard for people to catch, scientist worry it could soon mutate into a form that spreads more easily between humans, with the risk of killing millions of people worldwide. The outset of this crisis is likely to take place in Indonesia.