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NDMA to conduct mock exercises in earthquake-prone Uttarakhand

The National Disaster Management Authority (NDMA) will this week conduct two mock exercises on earthquake preparedness in Uttarakhand,covering all districts…

NDMA to conduct mock exercises in earthquake-prone Uttarakhand

PHOTO: Getty Images

The National Disaster Management Authority (NDMA) will this week conduct two mock exercises on earthquake preparedness in Uttarakhand,covering all districts of the hill State.

To be conducted in collaboration with the State Government, the exercises will help NDMA assess the readiness of various stakeholder departments in the event of a high-intensity earthquake anywhere in the earthquake-prone State.

The first exercise will be held tomorrow and cover Dehradun, Tehri Garhwal, Hardwar, Uttarkashi, Chamoli, Pauri Garhwal and Rudraprayag districts. To prepare for this, a table-top exercise was on Monday held through video-conferencing. Senior officials from all stakeholder departments such as NDRF, Health, Police, Education, Firefighting,
Civil Defense, Public Relations, and Transport took part.

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Another round of a similar coordination conference will be held on Wednesday for the second mock exercise on Thursday, covering Pithoragarh, Bageshwar, Champawat, Almora, Nainital and Udham Singh Nagar districts.

These exercises will deal with simulated scenarios of earthquakes wherein the participants will be trained on key aspects of disaster management such as formation of Incident Response Teams and Emergency Operation Centres (EOC), coordination among various participating agencies, evacuation and medical preparedness.

Aimed at enhancing the preparedness and response mechanism of key stakeholders, these exercises will help highlight areas that require improvements. NDMA expert Major General VK Datta (Retd.), who will lead the exercises, said "Mock exercises help in filling gaps and ensuring better communication thus improving coordination among various agencies in real-life situations."

He said there was need for regular exercises in Uttarakhand as the entire hill State falls either in the Seismic Zone V or IV and has experienced many high-intensity earthquakes in the past. After the drills, post-exercise analyses will also be carried out to discuss the shortcomings, challenges and ways to improve them.

The NDMA has so far conducted more than 500 mock exercises in the country. Next month, a mock exercise will be held on flood and tsunami preparedness in Puducherry.

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