Full-scale drill simulating hostile air attack in Delhi to test preparedness

A circular outlined the drill components, including air raid warnings, crash blackouts, camouflaging, response by all 12 civil defence services, and evacuation.

The Directorate of Civil Defence conducted a full-scale mock drill simulating a hostile air attack across 13 districts of Delhi on Thursday night to assess the preparedness of disaster response agencies.

A Mock Drill conducted at Rajkumari Amrit Kaur College of Nursing at Lajpat Nagar in the evening in New Delhi, India, on Thursday, April 2, 2026. (Photo by Sanjeev Verma/ Hindustan Times)

A circular issued by the directorate of civil defence to magistrates of 13 districts on March 27 outlined the drill components, including air raid warnings, crash blackouts, camouflaging, response by all 12 civil defence services, and evacuation.

HT visited Rajkumari Amrit Kaur College of Nursing in Lajpat Nagar, where the exercise began at 8.10pm with a blackout. The campus, housing around 250 students, then saw a swift and coordinated response from multiple agencies to carry out evacuation and rescue operations.

During the blackout drills, lights were switched off in selected areas to simulate conditions during a hostile attack and assess implementation of blackout protocols, it said.

“Given the ongoing war in West Asia and the Capital’s heightened vulnerability to such risks, it was important to conduct a drill. Like any disaster simulation, our priority is to attend first to those with severe injuries, followed by those with minor ones,” said a member of the medical team.

Farida Noora, a 24-year-old student, said they had been given instructions a day earlier on basic individual preparedness. “I was in my hostel room when the light went off and siren started… When the rescue team came, we climbed down and gathered in the ground,” Noora said.

As agencies moved from one building to another carrying out various operations, several people gathered outside the college, trying to make sense of the road blockage near the entrance gate.

District magistrates and civil defence controllers supervised the drill and will submit detailed reports to the civil defence headquarters for further assessment on April 3 and the reports will be further shared with the Ministry of Home Affairs (MHA), the order added.