Bhubaneswar: In an attempt to showcase the preparedness made to deal with Tsunami, a mock drill for the eastern coast states and union territories will be conducted November 24.
The drill will be conducted along the coast of Orissa, Andhra Pradesh, Puducherry, Tamil Nadu and West Bengal. The drill will be conducted by Orissa State Disaster Management Authority (OSDMA) in collaboration with Indian National Centre for Ocean Information Services (INCOIS) and coordinated by Ministry of Home Affairs (MHA) and National Disaster Management Authority (NDMA).
In Orissa, the drill will be conducted in 328 identified Tsunami prone villages in 22 blocks of six coastal districts – Balasore, Bhadrak, Kendrapara, Ganjam, Jagatsinghpur and Puri.
The drill will be conducted along the coast based on a situation of an earthquake of 9.0 magnitude near Nicober Islands and possibilities of Tsunami at 9.30am. During the drill the INCOIS, Hyderabad will send series of dummy messages regarding impending Tsunami, which will be communicated down the line to specified districts, blocks and villages.
The purpose of the drill is to provide an opportunity for disaster management authorities to exercise their operational line of communications, exercise their standard operating procedure (SOP), response on Tsunami warnings and emergency response procedures and review the emergency preparedness, said Special Relief Commissioner (SRC) Bishnupada Sethi.
The SRC said it will help in assessing the effectiveness of the plan and rectifying the measures if required. These drills enhance the ability to respond faster, better and in an organised manner.
Officials from State Emergency Operation Centre (SEOC), District Emergency Operation Centre (DEOC), block and urban administrations and response forces like National Disaster Response Force (NDRF), Orissa Disaster Rapid Action Force (ODRAF), fire services, civil defence along with defence forces like Indian Navy and Indian Coast-Guard will participate in the drill.
As total Tsunami mock drill is a dummy drill, the SRC appealed to the public not to be panicked during the drill.
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