Emergency response status: State-wide mega drill on April 26

Kohima Bureau Kohima, April 12 (EMN):The fourth Nagaland ‘emergency preparedness exercise’ (Nepe) a state-wide mega drill to test the capability of the Nagaland government to respond or manage any calamitous natural eventuality is scheduled to be conducted on April 26. The mega drill will be held simultaneously in three northeast states of Nagaland, Mizoram, and Tripura in collaboration with the Nagaland Disaster Management Authority (NDMA). This was informed during the meeting that was conducted at the Administrative Training Institute in Kohima on April 12. The emergency preparedness exercise is the state wide emergency exercise of the NSDMA. The agency is part of the Home department. Giving an overview of the drill to stimulate emergency response during earthquakes, joint advisor for the NDMA Dhirendra Singh Sindhu said that the primary objective of the event was to test the adequacy and efficacy of the emergency response plans of the state and districts against disaster scenarios. Sindhu highlighted the roles and responsibilities of the stakeholders of the state and districts. Sindhu maintained that it would enhance coordination and synergize efforts of various emergency support functions of the state and districts besides finding gaps in resources, manpower, equipment, communication and systems in case actual disasters occur. The officer cited the example of the 8.7 Mw earthquake that occurred at Shillong in Meghalaya in 1897. Sindhu was of the view that if an earthquake of that magnitude occurred in Nagaland, there would be an estimated 30,000 deaths and 1,80,000 injured persons (as per 2011 census). In addition to the extent of damage in the affected area, and bad weather conditions, heavy rain including the number of casualty, and roads and arteries that cannot be used, Sindhu said services, such as electricity, water and telecommunications would be affected badly. Reviewing the Nepe mock drill that was conducted on August 30 2017 the officer on special duty for the NSDMA Johny Ruangmei said that although the drill was successful there were many gaps and lacunae that were identified then. During the mock exercises the previous year, Ruangmei pointed out that sirens could not be heard in many places, which created confusion for officials and participants. He suggested that a proper and permanent siren in the form of loud speakers be placed at strategic locations in future, which would be used for early warnings even in times of actual calamities. The officer referred also to integrated communication with line departments. During the de-briefing, he said, there was a consensus to come up with a proper system of coordination for communications with more options. Likewise, there was found a need to liaise with private mobile agencies for emergency call systems integrated to the NSDMA. Another concern that was discussed during the event was administrating hospitals in Nagaland during emergencies. The official said it was one of the main concerns during the previous mock drill. It was felt that minimum basic requirement should be reserved for every hospital including private hospitals during emergencies. He informed that a meeting would be conducted with all health service providers before the mega drill. Another important issue Ruangmei raised was the state’s narrow road and lanes. There is a need to create alternate routes to be used during major disasters. This is for easy access to the site of disasters. Besides identifying other lacunae, Ruangmei said there was a need to examine manpower for search and rescue; check the status of equipments which were said to be in the custody of the Indian Reserve Battalion ‘A’ and district executive force; maintain a proper inventory of resources of all the line departments etc. It is with the primary objective of making Nagaland safer and resilient, the NSDMA has been organising Nepe to generate awareness among the communities and agencies about how to establish mechanisms for effective response to any emergency.