Mock exercise on earthquake scenario held in Arunachal

Itanagar, Nov 23 (PTI) A state-level mock exercise on earthquake disaster scenario was conducted across Arunachal Pradesh on Thursday.

It was conducted by the State Disaster Management Authority in collaboration with the National Disaster Management Authority (NDMA).

NDMA senior consultant Major General (Retd) Sudhir Bahl, who coordinated the event, highlighted the roles and responsibilities of various stakeholders as per incident response system, disaster management plans, emergency support functions, public awareness, and identified gaps.

Five sites for mock action were selected across districts which included schools, government offices, residential areas, hospitals, bridges, landslide-prone areas, among others.

An earthquake scenario of 7 on the Richter Scale with an epicentre at Tuting in Upper Siang was created.

Assuming massive destruction of roads, buildings, communication, immediate action, and business continuity check was done by the response teams across districts as well at the state level.

Situation reports from the districts were collected through satellite phones, emails, and WT messages.

Personnel from NDRF, SDRF, Indian Army, CRPF, ITBP, BSF, police, Assam Rifles, etc., were used in the search and rescue operation of victims.

Later, Bahl along with disaster management secretary Dani Salu, officials of the Eastern Air Command, Shillong, fire officer from Airports Authority of India, and others conducted a de-briefing session. PTI UPL MNB