The Government of Tripura organized a State level mock drill on earthquake disaster on Thursday to observe the efficacy of Disaster Management Plans and preparedness for the impending earthquakes. The drill was conducted with technical support from the NDMA, Government of India.
Notably, Tripura is located ‘High Risk’ Zone as far as earthquake is concerned.
Revenue Department in consultation with all District Disaster Management Authorities conducted the exercise at 41 locations in the State in categories of school, hospital, government office, market, community, bridge, chemical and landslide hazard locations.
All the members of Incident Response System (IRS), line departments, NDRF, SDRF, Army, BSF, Assam Rifles, CRPF, CISF, PSUs like ONGC, GAIL, NEEPCO, TNGCL, OTPC, NG0s, community volunteers participated actively in the entire exercise.
The mock exercise started at 9.00 am by sounding sirens simulating an earthquake of magnitude 7.2 on the Richter Scale occurred about 40krns away from Agartala city. It was also presumed that there were huge damage in the districts and communities, communication network disrupted, people rendered homeless and the administrations required immediate help for rescue, relief, restoration of essential services etc.
In the exercise, the functioning of Emergency Operation Centres, command, control, coordination and communication were tested. The district administrations established incident Response System ensuring systematic emergency response actions during any disaster.
At all locations, there were observers from uniformed agencies to assess the entire exercise. During the exercise, three locations in each district demonstrated their activities through live streaming. The mock drills were organised very well and the State and district Administrations and uniformed organisations actively participated_
From NDMA, Maj. Gen. Sudhir Bahl (Retd.), Sr. Consultant (ME) coordinated the Mock Exercise by organising an orientation workshop and tabletop exercise with the key stakeholders.
During the exercise, the Chief Secretary, Government of Tripura being the Responsible Officer for Incident Response System visited the State Emergency Operation Centre and took the stock of the situation.
He advised for further strengthening of the Response System so that the State administration can act suo-rnotto during any disaster situation and save more lives and properties. Dr. T.K. Debnath acted as Incident Commander of the State for the exercise at the State level. At the district level concerned DM & Collectors acted as Responsible Officer and the ADMs acted as the Incident Commanders of the IRS system at their levels.
After the mock exercise, a debriefing session was organized with all participating agencies at 2.30PM through video conference. All District Administrations, NDRF, Army, Central Paramilitary Forces shared their views on what went well, what needs improvement and suggestions for the mock exercise.
Officials of NDMA and Revenue Department briefed the media after the debriefing session. It was suggested that such type of exercises should be organized very frequently to sensitize the communities and empower administrations for responding earthquake disaster effectively.