NDMA to conduct quake preparedness exercise in Delhi

The National Disaster Management Authority (NDMA) will conduct a mock exercise in Delhi on Friday to improve preparedness and response mechanism of local administration if an earthquake strikes the city.

Being conducted in collaboration with the Delhi government, the exercise will cover all the 11 districts of Delhi, a Home Ministry statement said.

"The mock exercise is significant as Delhi is located in the high-intensity seismic zone IV. It will also generate awareness among the local population who are the first responders in case of any disaster," it said.

The NDMA organised a similar state-level earthquake preparedness exercise in Delhi in 2012.

In the run-up to the exercise, a coordination conference and a table-top exercise were held on Thursday with all the Deputy Commissioners of Police to ensure smooth facilitation of the exercise, the statement said.

Officials from all stakeholder departments, such as army, , police, firefighting, civil defence, transport, electricity, public relations and traffic control, and health participated in the preparatory meeting.

"Preparedness measures required to be taken at individual, societal and institutional levels to minimise the impacts of an earthquake were discussed in the meeting in detail," the statement said.

"The NDMA experts briefed the stakeholders on activation of Incident Response System (IRS), which attributes roles and responsibilities at each level to improve coordination," it added.

The NDMA experts during the discussions created various disaster situations involving residential high-rise buildings, hospitals, schools, Metro stations, shopping malls and petroleum depots and sought response plans from the participating officials, it said, adding the responses were then analysed, shortcomings identified and improvements suggested.

--IANS

rak/nir/vt