Statewide mock quake drill held
Nearly 15,000 personnel of the National Disaster Response Force (NDRF), army, paramilitary forces, Haryana police and the fire brigade conducted a statewide mock earthquake drill on Thursday.
State revenue and disaster management minister Capt Abhimanyu said since Haryana is vulnerable to earthquakes being in a high-seismic zone, the exercise was carried out for an earthquake measuring 6.8 on the Richter scale with its epicentre in Gurgaon.
The drill was conducted in collaboration with the National Disaster Management Authority (NDMA) at 122 locations, including the Haryana civil secretariat and the new secretariat in Chandigarh, in 22 districts simultaneously, he said.
He said it is for the first time when the state government conducted a mock drill on such a scale. At 10 am, all occupants of designated buildings conducted the duck and cover exercise and evacuation drills were conducted in select schools, offices, residential and shopping complexes, and hospitals.
Telecom services, electricity and water supply were eventually restored. Drones were used in Gurgaon, Panipat and Jhajjar districts to assess the response time. The deputy commissioners have been directed to follow up the exercise for 10 days to ascertain the additional requirement of equipment and other needs, officials said.
While police wireless system developed glitches in Rewari, additional chief secretary, disaster management department, Keshni Anand Arora sustained a minor injury in the leg during the drill. NDRF adviser Maj Gen (retd) VK Dutta said six teams of the army, eight of the NDRF and two each of CRPF, NSG and ITBP participated in the exercise.