Uttarakhand News: Is Uttarakhand fully prepared to deal with monsoon disasters? What will happen in the mock drill to be held in 13 districts? Will situations like landslides, floods and heli rescue be practiced? How strong is the system of relief camps? Will the local community also become a part of this big campaign?
Dehradun. Under the instructions of Chief Minister Pushkar Singh Dhami, a large scale mock drill will be organized in all the 13 districts of Uttarakhand on July 2. The objective of this exercise is to make relief and rescue operations more effective, faster and coordinated in the event of potential disasters during monsoon.
An orientation and coordination meeting was organized in the Secretariat on Friday under the chairmanship of Vinod Kumar Suman, Secretary, Disaster Management and Rehabilitation Department, regarding the preparations for the mock drill. Necessary guidelines were given to the officials of all the districts in the meeting.
CM Dhami Disaster Preparedness Plan: Preparations in the final phase on the instructions of the Chief Minister
Secretary Vinod Kumar Suman said that Chief Minister Pushkar Singh Dhami, during the recent review of pre-monsoon preparedness, had given instructions to organize a statewide mock drill to develop better coordination and quick response capability among the departments. He informed that this exercise will be organized at about 70 new places in the state. Practice will not be conducted this time at places where mock drills have been conducted earlier.
Table Top Exercise: Preparation will be reviewed on June 30
Before the mock drill, a table top exercise will be conducted on June 30. During this, information about available resources, disaster response plans, availability and deployment of equipment will be presented by all the districts. This entire exercise will be conducted under the Incident Response System (IRS), so that the actual status of coordination between various departments can be assessed.
Disaster Response Capacity Test: Disaster response capacity of departments will be tested
During the meeting, Additional Chief Executive Officer Administration Prakash Chandra directed that a separate database of employees who have received disaster management training from ATI Nainital should be prepared and they should be developed as first responders. Meanwhile, Additional Chief Executive Officer (Implementation) and DIG Rajkumar Negi told through a detailed presentation that the disaster management capacity of various departments and mutual coordination in relief and rescue operations will be tested through mock drill.
Relief Camp Management: There will be a real test of the arrangements of relief camps
During the mock exercise, the facilities provided by setting up relief camps will also be examined. In these camps, arrangements for electricity, clean drinking water, food, first aid, baby food and special facilities for pregnant women will be tested. Keeping in mind the safety of women and children, deployment of police and home guard personnel will also be ensured.
Community Participation in Disaster Management: Local community will play an important role
Secretary Vinod Kumar Suman said that in case of any disaster, the local community is the first to react. Therefore, it is very important to strengthen the community-based disaster management system. Active participation of ex-servicemen, ex-paramilitary forces (CAPF) personnel, Aapda Mitra, voluntary organizations, NCC, NSS, Red Cross and other social organizations will be ensured in the mock drill.
Disaster Management Equipment Exhibition: Modern equipment will be displayed
There will also be an exhibition of disaster management equipment and resources by various agencies during the table top exercise conducted before the mock drill. SDRF, NDRF, police, fire service, health department and other agencies will showcase modern search and rescue equipment, communication systems, relief material and disaster response vehicles. Besides, practical practice of their operation will also be conducted.
Monsoon Disaster Scenarios: Practice will be conducted on these disaster situations
Various disaster situations related to monsoon will be practiced during the mock drill. These will include scenarios like waterlogging in residential areas, threat to embankments, safe evacuation of children from schools, road blockage due to landslides, delivering relief material to cut off areas, issuing alerts when water is released from hydropower projects and rescue of people trapped on buildings and rooftops by helicopter.
The state government aims to make the disaster management mechanism more efficient, coordinated and effective through this exercise, so that any emergency during monsoon can be dealt with quickly and efficiently.