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A mega mock drill was held on Tuesday to assess and improve emergency response in the city. This time around, the focus was on the medical sector — its ability to respond to and manage mass casualty disaster situations.
The Delhi Emergency Management Exercise (DEMEx) was organised by Delhi Disaster Management Authority (DDMA), together with the National Disaster Management Authority (NDMA).
The DEMEx, which began on August 9, and concluded with the mega mock drill across 33 locations on Tuesday.
The drill, which started around 11.40 am, included eight simulation exercises at the Burari Urs Ground.
The exercise here involved sub-scenarios arising out of an earthquake that had caused widespread damage. The resulting sub-scenarios were building collapse, chemical leak in a factory, a road accident, school building collapse, fire at a government building, a flyover collapse, cracks and fire in a mall .
The drill was assessed by more than 300 independent observers of the Indian Army and six teams of observers from NDMA. It concluded around 1.30 pm.
“The teams comprised doctors from National Institute of Health and Family Welfare, AIIMS, Indian Railways, specialised national faculties of the Training of Trainers programme. The simulation exercise at Burari Urs Ground was conducted under the supervision of international experts from Pennsylvania, Pittsburgh and Oregon of the USA,” a senior DDMA official said.
While observers from the Indian Army, GOC, Delhi Area, made an independent audit of the entire exercise, Chemical, Biological, Radiological & Nuclear teams of National Disaster Response Force went to the Naraina and Burari simulation site.
“Various scenarios were enacted during the drill. The disaster machinery dealt with the overall scenario of 164 dead, 143 serious injuries, 497 major injuries and 461 minor injuries. The injured were taken to various hospitals such as LNJP Hospital, Gangaram Hospital, RML Hospital, DDU Hospital, Guru Gobind Singh Hospital, Aruna Asaf Ali Hospital, Hindu Rao Hospital, GTB Hospital and Lady Hardinge Hospital. About 5,000 personnel participated in the drill,” the official said.
A mega mock drill was organised on February 15, which was the first such NCT-wide programme. The exercise was successful. It was decided that all future mock drills in the country would follow the protocol followed in Delhi.
