Nagaland gears up for emergency preparedness exercise

Dimapur, April 23 (EMN): Nagaland has geared up for the conduct of the national emergency preparedness exercise (NEPEx), being organised by Nagaland State Disaster Management Authority (NSDMA) Home department in collaboration with National Disaster Management Authority (NDMA) slated on April 26.
In this connection, District Disaster Management Authority (DDMA) conducted a meeting to finalise roles and responsibilities of various teams for the exercise.
Dimapur: The Dimapur, NEPEx meeting led by additional deputy commissioner, Sara Jamir discussed on issues relating to staging areas, relief camps, ambulance services, traffic, medical team, law and order, EOC, communication, transportation and other areas of concern while conducting the NEPEx exercise.
The meeting decided that no prior traffic control arrangements would be made on the day to create awareness and preparedness during real live situation; locations for sending ambulances would be decided on the spot; relief camps and staging area would be set up in the same location; mock drill exercise will be conducted in different sites including St.Mary’s Montessori school, Hill Star Cinema hall, City centre shopping mall and Noton Bosti.
DEO, Police, DMC and administrative officers are asked to coordinate with Home guards for successful conduct of the mock drills.
DPRO Dimapur, Lolano Patton screened a 24 minute documentary of the NEPEx exercise which was conducted last year at Dimapur. She said that by viewing the documentary, members can assess their performances, learn more and ponder on issues for areas of improvement.
Mokokchung: Mokokchung DDMA conducted a meeting in the additional deputy commissioner (planning) conference hall on April 20. Update received from DPRO on Monday informed.
During the meeting, some places and wards have been selected in the town to carry out the preparedness exercise such as evacuation, rescue, relief and rehabilitation.
Another meeting will be held on April 25 to discuss and ensure that all sections function in tandem under the Incident Response Teams structure, it informed.
MDDMA has informed the general public not to panic or create unnecessary chaos during the mock emergency preparedness exercise on 26th April. The objective of the exercise is to build a prompt response to any threatening disaster such as earthquake.
Longleng: In Longleng the Deputy Commissioner John Tsulise Sangtam, highlighted about the mega mock exercise. He informed that NEPEx is a state-wide Mega Mock Exercise to test the capability of the Government of Nagaland to respond and to manage any mega impending disaster in the state.
He asserted that it is a performance of all the departments under the disaster management to be aware of their roles and responsibilities to response and take timely action during disasters and minimize the lost of live and properties.
DC urged all the officers to be sincere with their respective activities to ensure that the mock drill exercise itself should not become a disaster.
Saying that the monsoon related disasters that may occur in the district, he appealed the officers in concern for timely verification report and submission of application of the beneficiaries in time to avail relief for the beneficiaries.
After an extensive discussion, the meeting decided to perform the mega mock exercise in four locations and requirement of manpower and inventory was framed for the exercise despite shortage of manpower and machineries.
The final briefing of the mega mock drill exercise will be held on of April 25 in the DC’s conference hall. In this connection, DC has directed all the heads of departments to be present for the final briefing.
Public information
The Nagaland State Disaster Management Authority (NSDMA), Home Department issued a notification information of the general public that NEPEx, a mega mock exercise will be conducted all over the State on April 26.
The public is requested not to panic but to cooperate with the authorities for smooth conduct of the mock exercise. Such drills are useful as they increase awareness as well as equip the citizens to respond appropriately in times of actual disasters, the NSDMA infromed.
All the AHODs / HODs / line Agencies / NGOs are requested to participate in the table top exercise on April 25, 11 am at ATI in Kohima. The responsible officers of the line departments are requested to come to the table top exercise with the preparedness status of their respective departments.
The NSDMA also informed that on April 26, churches across Kohima will ring bells to announce the beginning of the mock drill. The Church bells will ring for three minutes and immediately people in the schools and institutions/offices shall respond by method of Drop, Cover and Hold. A second alarm will be rung after two minutes after which all stake holders who have followed the ‘Drop, Hold and Cover’ shall vacate to safer places covering their heads with their hands or any hard object.
Public is requested not to spread rumours of impending earthquake / disaster which may cause fear psychosis. The NEPEx is only a preparedness exercise and is not a warning of any impending disaster, the authority informed.
Also , ADC Wokha, Nokchasashi has informed that six sites have been identified as disaster incident base namely, Mt. Tiyi College Wokha (building collapse), Dr. Motsuo Memorial Hospital (patient treatment), Police Point (DC Office Junction) (building collapse), Little Angle School (evacuation drill), Mt. Sinai School (fire), and WTC shopping complex.
During the mock drill, assessment of locality, treatment, movement of patients to safe zone will be displayed, ADC informed.