A comprehensive mock exercise on State Level Chemical Disaster and Coastal Cleanup was organized today under the guidance of Administrator of Union Territories of Dadra and Nagar Haveli and Daman and Diu, Praful Patel. The mock drill was conducted by the District Disaster Management Authority (DDDMA) in collaboration with National Disaster Management Authority (NDMA) and district level stakeholders.
The objective of this mock exercise was to assess the preparedness of disaster management teams in situations like chemical disaster and oil spill and to ensure coordinated action to deal with challenges like oil spill in coastal areas.
During this mock drill, a hypothetical incident was depicted in which a chemical leakage and oil spill on the beach posed a threat to the environment and human life. In this exercise, an expert team from the National Disaster Management Authority (NDMA) and the National Disaster Response Force (NORF) demonstrated chemical disaster control, identification of affected areas, evacuation of people and cleaning of coastal areas. Police, Coast Guard, Fire Service, Health Department, Pollution Control Board, Information and Publicity Department, Municipality, Forest Department and other local agencies played an active role in this program.
Speaking on the occasion, Deputy Collector Aarti Agarwal said, “This mock exercise ensures our disaster management capability and is an essential step to take action with readiness in times of chemical disasters and oil spills can pose serious environmental and humanitarian risks.
This mock drill further strengthened the disaster management efforts of the Union Territories of Dadra and Nagar Haveli and Daman and Diu, tested the joint response of all agencies and also served the important function of creating awareness among the citizens of the region.
It is noteworthy that under the able leadership of the Prime Minister of India, Narendra Modi, the NDRF organizes such MONK exercises across the country every year so that disaster situations can be dealt with.
