ITANAGAR, Feb 11: The first ever state level mega mock exercise on earthquake scenario was successfully conducted across the state on Tuesday by the National Disaster Management Authority in collaboration with the State Administration in which all the 25 districts and Capital Complex were actively involved.

The mega exercise was held under the aegis of Disaster Management Department, and as a part of the it, an alarm for earthquake was sounded at 10 am across the state and all the stakeholders led by respective district administrations and important line departments like, Police, Army, Paramilitary forces, IPR etc. swung into action.  A real life earthquake scenario was created and in Itanagar, the mock exercise was conducted in five locations as affected structures/ buildings namely Gyan Ganga Vidyapeeth Chandranagar, Bridge Point Chandranagar, Residential Complex Police Colony, RK Mission Hospital and Directorate of Higher and Technical Education, ESS Sector. Once the earthquake siren went on at 1015 hrs, the District Emergency Operating Centre (DEOC) headed by DC cum Chairman DDMA immediately activated the Incident Response System and took stock of the situation through the Incident Commander via wireless communications. All emergency services were immediately informed and activated and the rescue team was put into action. During the exercise, the bridge at Chandranagar was assumed to have collapsed and traffic movement was restricted. NDRF, SDRF, Police, Ambulance, Fire services and other emergency services were engaged to carry out the rescue operation. Other simulated situations like the collapse of the building of Directorate of Higher and Technical Education was also created.  Air Force was also informed and a helicopter was requisitioned to carry out recce of the affected Itanagar Capital Region as all road communication was supposedly disrupted. The seriously injured victims were treated at RKM Hospital and a relief camp was also set up at Vivekananda Hall RKM Hospital to cater to the rescuers.

DC expressed satisfaction over the entire event and lauded the performance of the teams involved including the volunteers of NCC, NSS of DNGC College, Itanagar and also the NDRF and SDRF. He thanked the denizens of the Capital Region for their cooperation in successfully carrying out the exercise and the Incident Response Team for excellent coordination and successful conduct of the exercise. He however stressed that such exercises should be conducted twice in a year so that every stakeholder is well aware of their roles. The exercise was concluded with the debriefing session by the Brigadier Kuldip Singh(Retd ) from NDMA, Secretary DM Dani Salu and Director DM Abu Tayeng through video conference. Brig. Singh who was the main motivator during the whole programme enlightened the participants at the SEOC and also the district officers through video conferencing on some of the vital aspects of disaster management in the event of an earthquake and elaborately explained some of the intricacies and situations expected to surface during and after earthquake and underscored the importance of disaster preparedness and diligent resource management. The reports of damages to school buildings, hospitals, office buildings, roads and bridges started pouring-in from around 11 am from all the districts and state capital. Mock casualties and cases of injured persons were also reported from all the districts and capital city.

During the interactive meeting held at the State Emergency Operating Centre which is in Chief Secretary's conference hall in the Civil Secretariat, Secretary, Home CN Longphai, Secretary DM, Director, DM, Secretary, GA Sadhana Deori, IGP Chuku Apa, Col. Gopi Krishnan, BRO, Rahul Dutta, ITBP, Director, SRSAC Haresh Krishna Dutta, SP, Fire Wing and officers from Disaster Management department were also present and while interacting with the participants touched upon some of the important and crucial facets of emergency situations and remedial measures to be adopted during an earthquake. Representatives of various important departments including Indian Air Force attended the meeting. The Department of Information and Public Relations which is a vital wing of such an exercise was represented by Director Obang Tayeng and Deputy Director Denhang Bosai. 

Later on the day, while interacting with the media, Secretary DM, Director, DM and Brig.Singh briefed the media persons about the entire gamut of activities carried out during the state-wide mock exercise and urged upon the media to play a pro-active role during any earthquake scenario. 

It needs mentioning that since Arunachal Pradesh along with all NE states is situated in the seismic zone-5, such mock exercises will go a long way to create awareness among the people and also keep the stakeholders in readiness to face any eventualities. DIPRO