Mega mock tsunami drill conducted

Visakhapatnam: A day-long ‘Mega mock exercise on tsunami’ was conducted as part of disaster management by the National Disaster Management Authority and Ministry of Home Affairs in collaboration with district administration and several other departments at Pedda Jalaripeta and Bheemili here on Friday.

Teams from National Disaster Response Force (NDRF), Central Reserve Police Force (CRPF), State Disaster Response Force (SDRF), Marine Police, Home Guards, City Police, Coast Guards and VPT Fire Brigade departments congregated at Andhra University Engineering Grounds at 9.30 am.

Besides, members of Civil Defence Organisation, Red Cross Society, student volunteers and medical teams, too, assembled at the same location. Civil Defenve Special Deputy Collector Jawaharalal Nehru acted as a Commanding Officer of staging area.

Soon after the instructions were given to the deployed personnel, the teams of all the departments moved to Peda Jalaripeta with ambulances, fire tenders and other equipment to perform mock drill exercise. A Local Emergency Operation Centre (LEOC) was set up at Peda Jalaripeta GVMC High School.

National Disaster Management Authority joint adviser Dheerendra Singh Sidhu, district in-charge revenue officer Sattibabu and others attended. As part of the mock drill exercise, the local people were told about the measures to be taken during any disaster. During the rehearsal, they were shifted to rehabilitation centre and given food.

Locals say Gangamma Thalli won’t harm them As the rescue teams, along with vehicles entered Peda Jalaripeta, they were welcomed with a procession, making it tough for them to reach the mock drill location. However, they managed to deploy the rescue material at LEOC. Seeing the buzz created by the teams, only then the locals came to know about mock drill exercise. And some of them also claimed that they were not informed earlier by authorities about the mock rescue operations.

“We are in safe hands of Gangamma Thalli (Ocean Goddess). No rescue operation is needed,” two women standing on the streets said as the teams were reaching shore. “Will these teams really come for help if Tsunami occurs?” they expressed doubt.

However, the team members of several departments shared with this correspondent that the people in the area dislike to take part in these types of activities. “Some time ago, we conducted similar mock drill here, but they expressed confidence that Gangamma Thalli will not harm them,” members of rescue team said.

Vizianagaram: Residents of Mukkam village in Bhogapuram mandal are shocked to see the National Disaster Response Force (NDRF) team in their locality and feared that the village is again submerged in sea, which was happened during tsunami.

The NDRF teams have rushed to the village and warned the locals to stay away from sea and vacate their homes to protect themselves from tsunami. The teams have lifted the children, elderly women into vehicles and shifted to safer places. Even the medical and health, revenue, Red Cross staff also participated in the evacuation drive.

They shifted all the villagers to relief camps and provided food and other material to them. District Revenue Officer RS Rajkumar told around six teams are conducting mock drills on Friday following directions of the Union government.

He said the tides might be raised to 8 metres high due to tremors in Bay of Bengal. He said the mock drill was organised to alert the people living in coastal areas, which are prone to tsunami.