Sri Vijaya Puram, Feb. 21: The Directorate of Disaster Management, A&N Administration conducted the fourth mock drill on Earthquake at the Directorate of Education and Registrar of Cooperative Societies, A&N Administration today in accordance with the Chief Secretary’s directive to hold quarterly mock drills in every Department. In order to evaluate the Department’s disaster response, the drill was carried out in collaboration with the District Administration, A&N Police, Health, Fire, NDRF and Electricity agencies. Real-time earthquake simulation scenarios were created.
The exercise involved 110 officials/staff of RCS & Education, 40 representatives/teams from resource Departments and 25 Civil Defence/Aapda Mitra Volunteers of South Andaman (SA). In accordance with the drill scenario, the Department’s incident commander quickly sent out teams to warn all employees to evacuate safely after learning of an earthquake. They also notified the appropriate resource Departments (SEOC, DEOC (S/A), Fire, Police, Electricity, NDRF& Health) for support and assistance. The Department personnel effectively conducted safe evacuation and search and rescue operations. Ambulances and fire engines quickly arrived at the simulated location to rescue and treat the injured. The teams of Resource Departments carried out Search & Rescue and provided First Aid to the victims of the mock drill.
At 11.30 am, the mock drill came to an end with a debriefing session, where the Observers briefed their observations and pointed out areas that needed work. To ensure that the Department is ready for any catastrophe, resource Department officials urged all employees to improve their abilities in issuing alerts and warnings, safe evacuation protocols, search and rescue methods, and first aid.
