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KOHIMA — The Nagaland State Disaster Management Authority (NSDMA) is all set to organise a statewide mock drill simulating an earthquake disaster as part of Nagaland Emergency Preparedness Exercise (NEPEx) on October 24.
The annual mock drill is conducted to enhance disaster preparedness and response capabilities across the state and ensure that all stakeholders are ready to effectively manage and respond to any potential disasters.
The joint chief executive officer of NSDMA, Johnny Ruangmei, has briefed media persons after the stakeholders meeting on NEPEx 2024 held at the Secretariat's conference hall in Kohima on Thursday.
Also read: Coordination meeting for annual NEPEx held in Dimapur
He informed that this year mock drill would simulate extreme disaster event of earthquake impacting every telecom tower, damage to power lines and collapse of businesses in all the district headquarters.
In response to the disaster, it would assess alternatives of power backups and how to resume businesses in the absence of essential commodities. It would also looked into the availability of geo coordinates of all the helipads, number of helicopters, and lists of pilots who could empanelled for emergency response in the case of road closures, he explained.
He added that the emergency event would be carried out in all the districts at different sites including marketplace, residential areas, schools and offices. Volunteers from department of Youth Resources and Sports, NCC cadets, school students would act as victims.
The official reminded the people that the event is only a mock drill.
He said the time has come for the people to develop resilience, future-ready infrastructure and economy, adding that every citizen should be interested to build safe and resilient infrastructure.
He went on to add that vulnerable infrastructure have resulted in the loss of many lives during the monsoon season which could have otherwise been averted. He encouraged the people to develop the mindset of building disaster resilient infrastructure.
The NEPEx 2024 would commence with the sounding of an emergency siren across all major locations including the state capital and district headquarters.
A tabletop exercises, which is a prelude to NEPEx, would be held on October 22 at Capital Convention hall.
Observers from the Ministry of Home Affairs, Indian army, National Disaster Management Authority, and State Disaster Management Authorities would monitor the exercise while participants would include government officials, agencies, CSOs and local communities.