Multi-agency drill to boost city's disaster preparedness
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The field-level drill will mark the culmination of the multi-agency Exercise Suraksha Chakra, designed to enhance emergency response coordination in the National Capital Region, covering 18 districts across Delhi, Haryana, and Uttar Pradesh, they said.
Delhi Disaster Management Authority (DDMA) said the drill will simulate a major earthquake scenario and test real-time preparedness, inter-agency coordination, and public response mechanisms.
All necessary preparations were made to conduct the drill smoothly in all 11 districts of Delhi. This is a crucial step towards building a resilient city capable of handling major disasters, an advisory from DDMA said.
It urged citizens to cooperate fully and not to panic during the drill. It is a planned exercise and not a real emergency, it added. As part of the exercise, residents may witness increased movement of emergency vehicles, including ambulances, fire tenders, police vans and army trucks.
Sirens and public address systems may be used to signal the start of the drill.
Temporary facilities like incident command posts, staging areas, relief camps, and medical aid posts will also be established, the advisory said.
Teams from the National Disaster Response Force (NDRF), armed forces, civil defence, Delhi Police and other stakeholders will carry out simulated rescue operations, casualty evacuations, and offer medical assistance to supposed victims, the advisory added.
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The exercise will begin on July 29 with a high-level symposium on disaster risk and strategic preparedness. A tabletop exercise (TTEx) will be conducted on July 30 to allow disaster managers to test their response plans in a controlled environment. The full-scale drill on Aug 1 will be the final phase, putting planning into action on the ground.
The exercise will cover Gurgaon, Faridabad, Palwal, Nuh and Rewari in Haryana, and Ghaziabad and Gautam Buddha Nagar in Uttar Pradesh.
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