A preparedness meeting for conducting the state-level mock exercise to be held on October 10 was held on Saturday at Zilla Bhavan in Mangan of North Sikkim.
The meeting was chaired by North Sikkim Deputy Commissioner Karma R Bonpo and attended by Superintendent of Police, SDMs, heads of departments and other officers of the district.
The National Disaster Management Authority (NDMA) is conducting a mock exercise in the four districts of Sikkim and ten districts of West Bengal on October 10.
The mock exercise will simulate a scenario of a massive earthquake in the Northeast which has caused huge devastation.
The objective of enacting the scenario is to put into place a quick response system to tackle such disasters.
Departments like Health, Police, Food and Civil Supplies, Fire & Emergency Services, Forest and HRD along with volunteers have been assigned specific roles to be performed during mock scenario.
A preliminary meeting on the same was already held and was chaired by the Chief Secretary of Sikkim.
In order to conduct the mock exercise in North district, the District Disaster Management Authority has prepared five scenarios and the mock exercise will be held in Mangan and Chungthang.
The DC informed all the stakeholders on their roles and responsibilities under the Incident Response System (IRS) and according in the mock exercise various officers will have to perform those roles.
He stated that it was the aim of the district administration to fully functionalize the IRS system so that the district is better prepared to tackle big disasters in the near future.
The DC stated that entire administration will take part in the mock exercise along with Indian Army, ITBP and the hydro power developers.
He also stated that the participation of the NGOs and community was must to make the exercise successful in the district.
The NDMA will be sending observers from the Indian Army to see the preparedness of the district to tackle disasters and accordingly will be providing feedback to improve the disaster preparedness of the district.