State-level mock drill carried out for flood preparedness in Varanasi
The drill was organised jointly by National Disaster Management Force (NDRF), National Disaster Management Authority, Varanasi, UP police, PAC, department of health, Varanasi Nagar Nigam officials, department of agriculture, and department of animal husbandry.
A state level mock drill was conducted at the Namo ghat in Varanasi on Thursday for flood preparedness.
Mock drill being carried out at Namo Ghat in Varanasi. (HT Photo)
The drill was organised jointly by National Disaster Management Force (NDRF), National Disaster Management Authority, Varanasi, UP police, PAC, department of health, Varanasi Nagar Nigam officials, department of agriculture, and department of animal husbandry.
NDRF teams from Varanasi, Ballia, Gorakhpur, Lucknow, Lakhimpur Kheri, Bijnor, Aligarh and Bahraich joined the drill, said deputy inspector general (NDRF) Manoj Kumar Sharma
who supervised the entire mock drill.
NDRF inspector Jagdish Rana said, we created a scenario of a boat capasizing in the middle of the river. Immediately the emergency operation centre (EOC) was informed and EOC contacted the NDRF control room and all concerned stakeholders for emergency response.
Rana said that soon after the information, an NDRF team equipped with all the state-of-the-art relief and rescue equipment led by deputy commandant Prem Kumar Paswan was sent to the spot. The team collected information from the administration team which had already reached the spot and NDRF team boarded the rescue motorboat at Namo ghat and started the rescue operation. NDRF water ambulance followed it to the spot to give quick medical relief.
During the drill, the rescue team members and deep divers displayed lifesaving skills and rescued all the victims of the capsized boat.
The rescued people were given first aid and then were rushed to the hospital by ambulance of health department by creating a green corridor with the help of the local police. The entire mock drill was conducted as per the guidelines of the Incident Response System.
NDRF DIG said that the aim of the mock drill was to create coordination among the stakeholders and examine the efficiency of the resources, and take remedial measures if required to save human lives by carrying out quick rescue operation in case of flood.
He said that the NDRF teams are deployed in flood-prone districts of the state and further deployment will be done in other areas as per the requirement.