Mock drill in U'kand to test preparedness to deal with quakes

A mock drill was conducted today in four disaster-prone districts of Uttarakhand to test the level of preparedness of security agencies to deal with earthquakes.
Army, National Disaster Response Force (NDRF), Indo- Tibetan Border Police (ITBP), State Disaster Response Force (SDRF), Homeguards, police, Provincial Armed Constabulary (PAC) and Civil Defence personnel took part in the exercise conducted jointly by the National Disaster Management Authority (NDMA) and the state government in Pithoragarh, Bageshwar, Chamoli and Uttarkashi districts, an official release here said.
The drill was carried out from 9. 30 AM to 1 PM, it said.
A helicopter was also used in the exercise to show how it could ferry those injured in a quake to hospitals.

NDMA member Maj Gen V K Dutta described the mock drill as a successful exercise in which everyone performed well.
He said it gave security personnel an idea of how to perform in accordance with a strategy to minimise and mitigate the effects of a disaster.