Forming part of the statewide State Level Mock Exercise on Earthquake Scenario organized by the Meghalaya State Disaster Management Authority (MSDMA) in collaboration with the National Disaster Management Authority (NDMA), Ministry of Home Affairs, Government of India, the District Disaster Management Authority (DDMA), East Jaintia Hills District today the 20th March, 2025 successfully carried out the Mock Exercises imulating an earthquake scenario of magnitude 8.3 on the Richter scale during which the affected sites under East Jaintia Hills District include residential areas under Dkhiah West and Dkhiah East localities, Dkhiah East Secondary School, Khliehriat Civil Hospital, 1 India Family Mart, Dkhiah Service Station, Green Valley Industries Limited, National Highway-6 at Kuliang, etc while the Staging Area of the exercise was at the playground of Dkhiah East Village.
The whole exercise was conducted as per the Incident Response System (IRS) and all the Incident Response Teams (IRT) were activated and they performed their roles accordingly.
The whole exercise of evacuation, search and rescue of persons trapped inside the buildings and provision of first aid treatment before being shifted by ambulances to health care facilities witnessed the active participation of Line Departments, Police, Fire & Emergency Services, Civil Defence & Home Guards, Medical and Health Team, Community members, Volunteers, and Students of different schools, East Jaintia Hills District.
Speaking on the mock exercise, the Deputy Commissioner cum Chairman District Disaster Management Authority (DDMA), East Jaintia Hills District,Shri Shivansh Awasthi said that the Mock Exercise was being conducted with the aim to involve not just government departments but also the local community ensuring a holistic approach to disaster response.
Shri Awasthi emphasized on the importance of community involvement in rescue and relief operations stating that today’s exercise would help them aware of the necessary steps to take in case of an actual earthquake strike. After the Mock Exercise, a debriefing session with all the districts was held through video conferencing during which an evaluation on the performance of the exercise and gaps for improvement in future such exercises were discussed.
