New Delhi: The National Disaster Management Authority (NDMA) will conduct a State-level mock exercise on earthquake in Haryana on December 21, 2017. The exercise is being held in collaboration with the Haryana State Disaster Management Authority (HSDMA). This is the first State-level Mock Exercise on earthquake covering all districts of the State and will help improve the preparedness and response mechanism in the event of any major disaster, including an earthquake.
In the run-up to the exercise, an orientation conference was held yesterday at the State Emergency Operation Centre (SEOC) in Chandigarh. Concerned officials, including the State’s Additional Chief Secretary, Home Secretary, Revenue Secretary, Director General as well as Additional Director General of Police, Heads of line Directorates and representatives from Army’s Western Command and South Western Command, Central Reserve Police Force and National Disaster Response Force, attended the conference. Officials from other districts participated in the conference through videoconferencing.
The mock exercise will comprise the following step-by-step activities: Coordination Conference on December 19, 2017; Table Top Exercise on December 20, 2017; and the Mock Exercise on December 21, 2017. The mock exercise will be followed by a detailed debriefing session where gaps, if any, for improving preparedness will be discussed.
The exercise will be conducted on the principle of Incident Response System (IRS), which identifies stakeholders and clearly attributes roles and responsibilities to each one of them. It will enhance preparedness and ensure a swift response by reducing adhocism in response. Accordingly, NDMA is also conducting division-wise trainings for State officials on IRS from December 1-15, 2017.
The exercise will help in filling gaps, ensuring better communication and improving coordination among various stakeholders and agencies. It will also generate awareness among the local population about the Do’s and Don’ts to be followed before, during and after an earthquake. NDMA has so far conducted more than 600 mock exercises in different States and Union Territories for various disaster situations in its efforts to improve preparedness and response during for various disaster situations.
