By Our Reporter
SHILLONG, Oct 12: The state-wide mock drill to assess the preparedness of emergency services simulating a 7.2 magnitude earthquake was conducted by the State Disaster Management Authority (SDMA) and District Disaster Management Authorities in collaboration with National Disaster Management Authority and Ministry of Home Affairs on Thursday.
The massive exercise in Shillong saw the participation of all concerned stakeholders whose assistance would be significant during an earthquake. It included district officials, armed forces, paramilitary forces, National Disaster Response Force (NDRF) personnel, police and emergency services like ambulance and fire services, Bharat Scouts and Guides, Indian Red Cross Society, NSS among others.
To indicate that an earthquake has occurred, the Deputy Controller, Shillong blew the siren following which various emergency services began their drill.
The highlight of the mock drill in Shillong was the lifelike rescue simulating a collapsed building which was the Polo Super Market wherein six victims were stuck under the debris, and the NDRF personnel simulated a rescue operation wherein they rescued the victims with the help of a rope.
Santosh Kumar, General Commandant, 1st battalion, NDRF, Guwahati briefed about the exercise and how the NDRF is fully equipped and can independently deal with rescue operations in a case as such.
He said, “One team of NDRF personnel comprises of 47 personnel who includes the communication staff, medical staff, canine squad, rope rescue responders, team commanders along with special equipment and are fully able to tackle the rescue situation.”
Kumar added that since north-east falls under Seismic Zone V and over the last 40-50 years with the construction activities and the rapid urbanization have made the population of Shillong and Tura especially vulnerable, and for which the preparedness is a necessity.
He was overlooking the entire rescue operation of the collapsed building.
Sanjay Goyal, Commissioner and Secretary to the Revenue and Disaster Management department, who came to overlook the exercise in Shillong, requested the public to not panic stating that it is an exercise being conducted to assess the preparedness and also to check the coordination and formation between various agencies.
He also mentioned that in the days to come, there will be more drills as such especially in the community and grassroots level so everybody is aware about their roles.
Traffic woes
As the concerned agencies and personnel did their mock drill, the normal citizen whined about the huge blockade as a result of the entire Polo being sealed and turned into a no-entry zone. The daily commuters who were not aware of the drill faced the wrath.
Even though a message was disseminated to citizens about the mock drill, it did not carry any information about the Polo being a no-entry zone and for commuters to take alternate routes.
Even the shopkeepers just beside the Polo Supermarket who opened their shops before the mock drill began were clueless about the drill.
One shopkeeper, visibly annoyed stated that if he knew that there were no any customers in the morning, he would have just opened the shop in the afternoon.
He musingly added, “I almost panicked when I so many police personnel around this area as I thought something had gone down and maybe a curfew was imposed.”
Other districts
Similar scenes could be seen in other districts of the state.
In West Garo Hills, a de-briefing meeting was held at the Conference Hall of Deputy Commissioner’s Office, Tura, after the exercise, which was attended by the Deputy Commissioner of West Garo Hillls, Jagdish Chelani, Additional Deputy Commissioner, in-charge Revenue and Disaster Management, Dolrich BG Momin, District Disaster Management Officer, Tura, James D Sangma, Observers HB Marak, Retd.
IAS and former Deputy Commissioner, Deputy Commandant from 181 Bn BSF, Sunil Kumar, Commandant, 120 BN CRPF, Tura, Syam Krishna (AC), and other officers attended the de-briefing session.
In Resubelpara, the district headquarter of North Garo Hills, Dekachang field was enacted as a staging area where volunteers and officials assembled for briefing of the situation. Incidents of landslide, fire breakout, collapsing of infrastructures were staged at Resubelpara Community health Centre, Chibagok, Belpara Petrol Pump, Dekachang Bazar and RMSA School Resubelpara respectively. Search and Rescue operations were held in all the affected areas and persons with minor and major injuries were transported to the Medical Unit which was set up at Dekachang LP School.
Ri-Bhoi, West Khasi Hills, South Garo Hills and South West Garo Hills districts, and East and West Jaintia Hills too joined the rest of the state.
Debriefing sessions were also held in many districts after the exercise.