Mock Drill on Quake Disaster Management, Shillong

A Reporter

SHILLONG: A mock exercise on earthquake disaster will be held simultaneously in all district of Meghalaya involving all stakeholders on October 31, 2018. The Incident Response System (IRS) will be incorporated into this exercise.

The mock exercise will be organized by the state, district disaster management authority of the Government of Meghalaya in collaboration with the National Disaster Management Authority (NDMA), Ministry of Home Affairs, Government of India.

Addressing reporters on Tuesday, Major General Dr. VK Naik, Senior Consultant, NDMA said, “This will be one of the biggest mock drills in the state as it is happening simultaneously across eleven districts in Meghalaya.”

He informed that the aims and objectives of the mock exercise are to review disaster management plans of the state and district, to highlight the roles and responsibilities of various stakeholders as per IRS and enhance coordination among emergency support functions at district level beside others.

The mock exercise will be conducted tomorrow under the overall guidance of the chief secretary and additional chief secretary and disaster management.

He informed that incident command post, staging areas, and relief camps would be established at the district level for command and control.

He said hospitals have been earmarked for evacuation of causalities and medical aid posts are established at critical areas. Specialist response from NDRF/SDRF battalion and armed forces will carry out rescue operations.

When asked, he said, “Debriefing sessions will be carried out through video conference after the mock exercise with the entire district to evaluate the programme and find out the areas of improvement.”