Mega disaster management drill at 55 spots in Delhi-NCR on Friday

Delhi NCR: A mega disaster management mock drill in Delhi-NCR will be conducted at more than 55 locations including markets, schools and hospitals on Friday.

The district officials in Delhi said all preparations are in place for the exercise that will be participated by hundreds of disaster management personnel, first responders as well as members of non-governmental organisations, market associations and resident welfare associations.

The drill will be conducted in all 11 districts of Delhi, along with Ghaziabad and Noida in Uttar Pradesh, and Faridabad, Gurugram, Palwal, Nuh and Rewari in Haryana to strengthen coordination and response mechanisms for major disasters like earthquakes and industrial chemical hazards, the officials said.

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“The exercise will be conducted at four to six locations in each district. Members of all the government agencies have been instructed and rehearsals for the disaster management modules have already been conducted,” said a senior Delhi government officer.

The field-level drill will mark the culmination of a multi-agency ‘Exercise Suraksha Chakra’ designed to enhance emergency response coordination in the National Capital Region (NCR) covering 18 districts in Delhi, Haryana and UP.

The Delhi Disaster Management Authority (DDMA) said the mock drill will simulate a major earthquake scenario and test real-time preparedness, inter-agency coordination and public response mechanisms.

All necessary preparations have been made to conduct the mock drill smoothly in all 11 districts of Delhi. This is a crucial step towards building a resilient city capable of handling major disasters, an advisory from DDMA said.

As part of the exercise, residents may witness increased movement of emergency vehicles including ambulances, fire tenders, police vans and Army trucks. Sirens and public address systems may be used to signal the start of the drill.

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Temporary facilities like incident command posts, staging areas, relief camps and medical aid posts have also been set up.

Teams from the National Disaster Response Force (NDRF), armed forces, civil defence, Delhi Police and other stakeholders will carry out simulated rescue operations, casualty evacuations and medical assistance to the mock victims, officials said.