Tabletop exercise to deal with earthquake disasters conducted
Source: The Sangai Express / DIPR
Imphal, April 19 2022:
A tabletop exercise on how to deal with earthquake disasters was conducted at the Conference Hall of Old Secretariat, Babupara today.
The aim of the exercise was to check preparedness for earthquakes at State level and to give awareness to the people about its management measures.
Stakeholders including Police, Army, Paramilitary Forces, Medical Department, Electricity Department, Assam Rifles, District Administrations etc., were trained on how to tackle an earthquake scenario.
The table top mock exercise was jointly conducted in collaboration with the Manipur State Disaster Management Authority (MSDA) and National Disaster Management Authority (NDMA), New Delhi.
Additional Chief Secretary.
Relief & Disaster Management MH Khan, IAS while addressing the media persons on the sidelines of the table top mock exercise said that mock drill exercise will be conducted at four valley districts of Manipur on April 21, 2022 .
He further informed that the mock exercise will be conducted simultaneously at JNIMS, Porompat for Imphal East district, CPET, Takyelpat for Imphal West and the respective DC complexes for Thoubal and Bishnupur districts and appealed all the stakeholders to participate in the said exercise.
Consultant of NDMA, New Delhi, retired Major General Sudhir Bahl who chaired the table top exercise said that the mock exercise will be conducted to validate the preparedness for dealing with earthquake and its disaster in the State.
He also said that the table top exercise is an important part where the stakeholders discuss how to deal with the scenarios and situations that may be faced during and after the occurrence of an earthquake.
"All the plans and strategies discussed in the table top exercise will be executed into action on April 21 at multiple locations", he added.
While claiming that Manipur is the second State to take up such initiative after the country experiences COVID-19 pandemic for the last two years, Sudhir Bahl exuded confidence that it would go a long way in handling earthquakes.
He added that mock exercises are quite important for States like Manipur, where their existence is within the Seismic Zone V and the occurrence of strong earthquakes is possible at any time.