Annual NEPEx to be conducted on November 17
Kohima, November 5 (MExN): The Nagaland State Disaster Management Authority (NSDMA) will conduct the annual Nagaland Emergency Preparedness Exercise (NEPEx) on November 17 to test the capability of the State to respond to, and manage any mega disaster. The exercise will be on earthquake disaster scenario of 8.7 magnitude, according to office memorandum issued by Nagaland Chief Secretary J Alam on November 4.
In this connection, a precursory capacity development programme which was scheduled for November 11 has been preponed to November 9, and will be conducted virtually from 11:00 am to 1:00 pm by the National Disaster Management Authority (NDMA) and NSDMA.
The AHoDs/HoDs of all the departments concerned and officials from all the District Disaster Management Authorities have been requested to participate in the programme. This will be followed by a State Level Table Top Conference at ATI Kohima for all the AHODs, HODs, and Nodal Officers of the line departments to the NSDMA on November 15.
Simultaneously, DDMAs will also conduct table top exercise in their respective districts along with the line departments and stakeholders on November 15, the memo stated.
Preparatory work for the mock exercise will be carried out at the state level and in the districts on November 16 and the actual mock exercise- NEPEx at all levels will be conducted on November 17 at 11:00 am, it informed.
Accordingly, the memo directed the DDMAs to identify five vulnerable places—two private or government schools, one college, one market place and one residential area— in their districts as affected sites. “The DDMAs will identify volunteers for acting as casualties and as injured victims, and some volunteers may act as people with disability,” and the DDMAs will use trained Community First Responders or Aapda Mitra trained volunteers at the village level wherever they are available, it said.
Along with this, the DDMAs will identify local Inter Agency Group (IAG) operating in the districts for coordination and partnership during the exercise and will also identify six observers from the Armed Forces, CRPF, NDRF, SDRF, Police and other line departments as observers who would oversee the district NEPEx.
Following the exercise, online reports as well as signed hard copies or documents by the DDMAs shall be forwarded to the office of the NSDMA, Home Department by November 25 for further submission to NDMA by November 30, the memo stated.
For any further clarification, the concerned NSDMA officials may be contacted through Phone No: 0370-2270050; via email: sdma.nagaland@gmail.com; Assistant Manager (Training & Education) Khrolou Koza Lohe- Phone no: 9856132002, it added.
