Nagaland Emergency Preparedness Exercise (NEPEx) state-wide mega mock drill exercise on earthquake disaster scenario in Nagaland was conducted on November 17.
Kohima, November 17 (MExN): The Nagaland State Disaster Management Authority (NSDMA), Home Department conducted the Nagaland Emergency Preparedness Exercise (NEPEx), a State-wide mega mock exercise on November 17.
The exercise was conducted on an earthquake scenario with a magnitude of 8.7 on the Richter scale. This exercise is being carried out to test the capability of the State to respond to and also manage any mega-disaster, stated a DIPR report.
Mon: The District Disaster Management Authority, Mon conducted the Nagaland Emergency Preparedness Mock Exercise at Mon Hq.
An incident response team for the exercise was instituted with Deputy Commissioner, Mon, Ajit Kumar Verma, IAS as the Responsible Officer and ADC Mon, Y Chingyak Konyak, NCS as the Incident Commander. The exercise was carried out in four incident sites at Home Guard & Civil Defence& SDRF Office, KNSK building, DPRO Office building, and District Hospital. Four strike teams comprising SDRF, F&ES, and Medical personnel were dispatched to the incident sites.
The exercise concluded with a debriefing of the IRT and comments from Section Chiefs and Observers.
Niuland: DDMA, Niuland organized the NEPEx at Niuland Town. Immediately after the siren was alerted, Incident Response Team reported to DEOC, Niuland, after which the Deputy Commissioner & RO activated the IRS. The team quickly set up the ICP led by IC at the Public ground. All units got activated for the response. The Deputy Commissioner Niuland Smti, Sara S Jamir thanked the SDRF team, officers, the public, and all the participants for the successful conduct of the mock drill in the district.
Longleng: The mock drill was conducted at Longleng Local ground from 9:00 am to 1:30 pm. After completing the rescue operation media briefing was done by RO followed by comments from the observers Dr Henshet, Vice Principal, Yingli College.
DC & RO Dharam Raj IAS thanked all the HoDs and participating teams from various agencies for completing the mock exercise as per the IRS of the district. He informed that the mock exercise is to keep themselves prepared to face the actual eventuality and urged the participants to keep on performing for improvement and awareness with the available resources to respond to any disaster at any time.
Peren: District Disaster Management Authority (DDMA), Peren in collaboration with District Administration and Line departments conducted the mock exercise at Jalukie town.
The drill was carried out in Christian Hr Sec School, ITMS, St Xavier Hr Sec School, Govt Hr Sec School, daily market, and residential area.
25th Assam Rifles, Dy Commandant, Vijay Pal Singh, Barail Valley School Administrator, Daniel Zeliang, and CVO Peren, Dr Namsiu Thou who were the observers expressed satisfaction over the whole exercise. Further, they also highlighted certain areas where improvement was needed.
After the completion of the whole exercise, a de-briefing was held at Govt High School Ground under the chairmanship of ADC Jalukie, TL Kiusumong Tikhir where Section Chiefs gave their respective reports and observations.
The drill concluded with a vote of thanks proposed by Deputy Commissioner Peren, Vineet Kumar.
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Tuensang: Mock Exercise on earthquake disaster was conducted at Tuensang town, organized by Nagaland State Disaster Management Authority (Tuensang district) in collaboration with the National Disaster Management Authority.
The Nagaland Emergency Preparedness Exercise (NEPEx) incident sites were at DC office old building, the Old PWD complex, and under construction building of the District & Session court. The staging area was done at the Parade ground, a makeshift hospital was arranged at the Badminton stadium and De-briefing was conducted at Town Hall Tuensang. The SDRF, Fire & Emergency Services, DEF, CMO & Staff, Wireless, DPRO departments, and NCC took part in the session.
In the de-briefing session Kumar Ramnikant, Deputy Commissioner Tuensang encouraged teamwork by the concerned stakeholders in accomplishing the smooth flow of the total search and rescue operation scenario and also advised them to be cooperative and coordinate between the stakeholders in the future. He also advised all to be prepared in their respective responsibility to respond in the time of eventualities.
Dr Keveduyi Theyo, Chief Medical officer Tuensang also encouraged his staff and others to be prepared to perform duties irrespective of leaves or shifts when a disaster occurs. The segregation of injuries and casualties is a very important step in times of disaster to handle the situation smoothly and wisely.
Yanchu Chang V.G Commandant as an observer also commented on the loopholes in the entire operation while Thungchanbemo Tungoe ADC Tuensang summed up the session with a vote of thanks.
Tseminyu: The mock Exercise in Tseminyu was conducted at Baptist Hr Sec School Tseminyu, Government High School New town and Residential Building and Market Area, Tseminyu. The Incident Commander and other IRTs rush to the staging area to take stock of the situation and resources for mobilization. Altogether 60 casualties, 13 dead, 12 seriously injured, and 35 minor injuries were reported from different areas.
Phek: In Phek District, the staging area for Relief Camp, Incident Command Post, Operation Section, and Planning Section were set up at the Local Ground in Phek Town.
The mock exercise was conducted by following work distributions in the ‘District Level Incident Response System (IRS) Structure’ of various sections, headed by Razouvolie Dozo, Deputy Commissioner and Chairman DDMA Phek.
Dozo appreciated and thanked all the concerned officials who took part in the Mock Exercise for sincerely performing each of their responsibilities. Chairman DDMA also reminded the stakeholders to be courageous oneself in such situations in the future.
Chümoukedima: The mock drill exercise in Chümoukedima was done by projecting a real-life situation. No prior traffic arrangements were made and the rescue teams were also assigned their tasks on the spot from the staging areas, where all the resources were kept ready.
The mock drill exercise was conducted in two locations, DC Office and CTC Office. It was successfully conducted in association with different concerned departments like the medical team, Police, NDRF, Traffic and CTYO volunteers, RD, Agri, Fire services, etc.
Later, the exercise concluded with a debriefing session held at Emergency Operation Centre, CTC. At the session, the observer briefed the best and the worst practices observed during the mock drill and also shared suggestions and feedback on improvements needed to ensure effective response during a disaster in the future with minimum loss of time and resources. Also shared that there is a need for having separate channels for Disaster Management and urged the concerned departments to know the IRS structure roles & responsibilities to tackle any kind of disaster situation in the future.
Shamator: Shamator District Disaster Management Authority with the 12Bn NDRF Team conducted the exercise at the St Xavier School Campus. Thsuvisie Phoji, Deputy Commissioner Shamator thanked the NDMA & NSDMA officials and staff for coming to the Newest District of Nagaland for education through demonstration.
Wokha: The mock exercise was in response to a hypothetical earthquake of 8.7 magnitude.
At Wokha the mock exercise was conducted at four locations namely Don Bosco Hr Sec School, Libemo Memorial School, District Employment Office, and Daily Bazaar Wokha.
The mock exercise was conducted at Don Bosco Hr Sec School, Libemo Memorial School & Employment and daily bazaar.
Deputy Commissioner and Chairman WDDMA, Ajit Kumar Ranjan, IAS congratulated all concerned for performing their assigned responsibilities with utmost sincerity and successfully conducting the Mock drill exercise.
Noklak: The mock exercise was held at Noklak HQ. During the exercise, DC Noklak Hiazu Meru who is also the Responsible Officer in a media briefing stated that the Incident Response team reported to DEOC and he briefed them and rushed to the staging area set up at Public Ground.
During the exercise, the SDRF team from Tuensang participated in assisting the rescue and operations. The exercise was witnessed by hundreds of people especially students from different Schools. Dr Jacob Lalmalsawm 2i/c 14th Assam Rifles, Noklak was the observer during the exercise.
Dimapur: The staging area was set up at the Nagaland Stadium Dimapur while Pantaloons, Forest Department Residential area, Govt High School Lingrijan and GHS Sarbura were the incident sites during the mock exercise.
During the debriefing, ADC Dimapur, who was the Incident Commander, said that such mock drills are conducted for testing the Preparedness level for evaluating the resource statistics of the stakeholder departments. She further said that mock drills are necessary for coordinating the activities of various agencies for their optimum utilization and also for using the feedback for identifying gaps to improve the resource capabilities for facing actual disasters.
NEPEx exercise at Dimapur was organized by the District Disaster Management Authority Dimapur in collaboration with NSDMA, NDRF, and SDRF.
Kiphire: The exercise in Kiphire was held at three locations- Govt Hr Sec School, Daily Bazaar, and District Agriculture Office. The rescue method was held in two manners- fire scenario and Earthquake. The main staging area was set up at Helipad ground Kiphire and the relief camp at Local ground Kiphire where the line departments and stakeholders reported after the siren was sounded at 9 am to respond to the disaster.
A rescue crew involving 60 personnel from fire and Emergency Services and Nagaland Police was dispatched to the incident location and reported 18 casualties, four deaths, and 14 minor injuries who were sent to the medical team for further treatment and first aid. 80 Volunteers from different Schools and colleges, Government departments, and agencies activity participated and played their respective roles and responsibilities assigned to them in the incident Response System.
Kohima: The Kohima District Disaster Management Authority (DDMA) conducted the mock exercise in five locations- Grace Hr Sec School Bayavü, Dr N Kire Govt Her Secy School Siekhazou, Mt Olive College Daklane, Mao Market BOC, and one resident House No. A236 at Officer’s Hill.
State Disaster Respond Force (SDRF), Medical, Fire and Emergency Services, Police personnel, and Kohima Village Youth Organization (KVYO) and Police personnel participated in the exercise.
The main Observers were S Jamir Lt Col 1 Assam Rifle, Limaakum Jamir, Dy Commandant 10th NAP (IR), Matsungshilu Dy. Commandant 4th NAP, KS Meena Dy Commandant 37 BSF Chedema and RJ Prasanna Asst. Commandant CRPF.
During the de-briefing, the observers congratulated the DDMA, search & rescue teams, and all the stakeholders for the successful conduct of the exercise. They were impressed by the overall setup of the exercise by the line departments and other stakeholders, however, they pointed out some areas which need more improvement for easy management and execution of the system put in place in the future. They also observed that more such exercises with the involvement of citizens be carried out for more improvement and awareness in the future.
The Incident Commander & ADC Kohima, Rhosietho Nguori said that the exercise was conducted to test the capability of the district to respond and manage any mega-disaster and thanked all the line departments, stakeholders, and KVYO for their cooperation and active participation in the exercise. Various Section Chiefs in the Incident Response System (IRS) also shared their experiences and challenges met during the exercises.
