Una, June 2:- Deputy Commissioner and Chairman of District Disaster Management Authority Una Jatin Lal said that in order to ensure effective relief and rescue operations in the event of any disaster, better coordination between all the concerned departments along with immediate response is very important. He said that a state-level mega mock drill will be conducted across the state on June 15 under the guidance of National Disaster Management Authority (NDMA) and State Disaster Management Authority.
Under the same link, a mock drill will be conducted in Una district based on hypothetical disaster situations like earthquake, cloudburst and forest fire. The aim of this is to assess the preparedness of various departments, available resources and effectiveness of mutual coordination.
The Deputy Commissioner participated in the Orientation and Coordination Conference organized by the State Disaster Management Authority on Monday through video conferencing from NIC Una. During this, senior officials of the National and State Disaster Management Authorities issued necessary guidelines regarding the Mega Mock Drill and reviewed the preparations.
Later, Jatin Lal said that before the Mega Mock Drill, a table top exercise will be conducted on June 12, in which the roles, responsibilities and disaster response mechanism of various departments will be reviewed in detail. During this, the locations to be selected for the mock drill in the district and the hypothetical disaster situations will be finalized.
He said that the purpose of the Mega Mock Drill is to conduct a practical test of the preparedness, quick response capacity and mutual coordination of various departments in the event of a disaster, so that relief and rescue operations can be made more effective in the event of an actual disaster.
The Deputy Commissioner said that this exercise is an important opportunity to assess the disaster management capacity of the district administration, various departments and the common citizens. This will further strengthen the coordination between various agencies and increase the effectiveness of the disaster management mechanism.
**Different hypothetical disaster scenarios will be practiced in different sub-divisions**
Jatin Lal said that during the mock drill to be held on June 15, relief and rescue operations will be practiced based on different hypothetical disaster scenarios at one location in all the sub-divisions of the district. The final selection of these locations and scenarios will be done during the table top exercise to be held on June 12. The mock drill will assess the prompt response of various departments, availability of resources, mutual coordination and effectiveness of district disaster management plans.
He appealed to the common people to fully cooperate during the mock drill and remain aware of the safety precautions to be taken in case of a disaster. He said that such exercises play an important role in increasing awareness among the people and developing proper response in emergency situations.
**Each department will play its assigned role**
Jatin Lal said that active participation of all the concerned departments has been ensured in this state level exercise. As per the District Disaster Management Plan, specific responsibilities have been assigned to each department, which will be carried out during the mock drill. At the same time, observers appointed by the State Disaster Management Authority will monitor the entire exercise.
Assistant Commissioner Vinay Modi, SDM Una Abhishek Mittal, DSP Ajay Thakur, Medical Superintendent Dr. Sanjay Mankotia, District Food and Supply Controller Rajiv Sharma, Superintending Engineer of Public Works Department KS Thakur and officers of various departments were present in the meeting.