Nagaland: Codify response to disaster— Home Commissioner Abhijit Sinha

Our Correspondent
Kohima, Nov. 15 (EMN): Home Commissioner and CEO of Nagaland State Disaster Management Authority (NSDMA), Abhijit Sinha on Monday told officials of various departments to be practical and codify their approach to manage disasters in the state.

He was addressing the multi state-level mock exercise on earthquake disaster – Nagaland Emergency Preparedness Exercise (NEPEx), organised by NSDMA in collaboration with National Disaster Management Authority (NDMA), Ministry of Home Affairs.

The event was held on the theme “Build to last: disaster resilient infrastructure” with participation from various line departments.

Sinha expressed concern over Nagaland being in a high-risk earthquake zone, with building bye-laws yet to be operational and high-rise building constructions being rapidly carried out in the state.

He opined that such structures posed risk for earthquakes as towns were densely populated and a ‘small collapse’ could have a huge impact.

The official stated that natural disasters cannot be escaped by mankind despite the advancement of technology, adding that the intensity and number of disasters were increasing owing to climate change and others.

Towards this, Sinha stressed on the need to be prepared and to respond immediately to a disaster to minimise its effect.

Meanwhile, Johnny Ruangmei, Joint Executive Officer (Joint CEO), NSDMA, Home department in his introduction to NEPEx, said building human resource is the key to mitigate disaster.

He stressed on the need to ‘begin with the end in mind’ in infrastructural works — schools, roads, etc by adopting Disaster Risk Reduction (DRR) as a way of life for Nagaland.

 “Disaster is no longer if but when,” said Ruangmei, stating that individuals, governments, businesses and decision-makers cannot be a stranger to disasters, but finding the way where the risks are coming from and understanding the strategies to address the risk is everybody’s business to be safe.

He reiterated that NEPEx is organised annually during different seasons of the year to acclimatise and build resilience to different extreme weather events throughout the year.

‘The goal of NEPEx is to make Nagaland a safer state and resilient society,’ he added.

Further, the official maintained that the objective of NEPEx  is to qualify the capability of the state in responding to an event of any disaster, development and strengthening of awareness, preparedness, response and recovery plan; capacity building of emergency support function and practice of SOP; to create awareness among multi stakeholders about the impact of disaster and its impact, and to build linkages and coordination among multi-stakeholders in responding to disasters.

Following the opening programme, technical session were also held on ‘role of incident commanders planning, logistic section in the IRS’ by Brijender Singh, OSD Disaster Management Department and SDMA, Government of Rajasthan; ‘Role of operation section in IRS’ by Medozhalie Pienyu, deputy commandant general, HG, CD & SDRF, Govt of Nagaland; ‘Table top exercise-responder by disaster scenario to painted scenery and mock exercise’ by Nawal Prakesh, Joint Advisor (Ops) National Disaster Management Authority (NDMA); and departmental disaster management plans on earthquake by state government departments — Health and Welfare; Police department; Food and Civil Supply; Water Resources; Transport and Power.

Meanwhile a state-wide mega mock drill will be conducted on November 17 from 9 am onwards along with Arunachal Pradesh and Assam.