Mega Exercise To Combat Earthquake In 8 Districts Of The State: A mega earthquake drill was held today in 8 districts of the state under the initiative of the Revenue Department. Indian Army, CRPF, BSF, Assam Rifles, Air Force, State Police jawans along with state-level and district administration officers participated in this exercise program. Retired Major General Sudhir Bhel, Adviser of the National Disaster Management Authority, gave this news in a press conference organized at the Press Conference Hall of the Secretariat today.
In a press conference, the consultant of the National Disaster Management Authority said that 5-6 places in each district were pre-arranged for conducting earthquake drills. Today morning at 9:30 am, the earthquake drill started together in pre-determined places in 8 districts of the state. There are drills on what to do in case of an earthquake. In order to make this exercise program successful, a tabletop discussion was held under the supervision of the National Disaster Management Authority on October 18, 2022, at the video conference hall of the State Secretariat. In this tabletop discussion, the relevant issues were reviewed through video conference with the stakeholders of District Disaster Management Authorities of 8 districts of the state. Essentially, the review laid emphasis on earthquake preparedness, keeping all information up-to-date and proper planning. State Project Officer of Tripura State Disaster Management Authority Dr. Sarat Das, Joint Director of NDRF Naval Prakash was present.
West Tripura District Collector and District Magistrate Devpriya Vardhan told a press conference this evening that the North Eastern region including Tripura is in Zone-5 among earthquake-prone areas. So we have to be more aware. Earthquake drills were conducted in the entire state including West Tripura district today to create awareness about this. The exercise was held at 6 places in the West Tripura district. In a press conference, the District Magistrate of West Tripura district said that the exercise was held from 9 am to 2 pm today at two places in the Sadar, Jiraiya, and Mohanpur subdivisions of the district. NDRF, BSF, CAPF, Assam Rifles, Police, TSR, Red Cross Society, and Revenue Department participated in the exercise. The District Magistrate said that this kind of exercise was organized to prepare for the rescue and relief work after the earthquake. He thanked everyone for participating in this exercise.
A drill was held today at Atal Bihari Vajpayee Regional Cancer Hospital and Dashrath Dev Smriti Janjati Guest House at 79 Tila in Agartala to deal with the earthquake. Additional District Magistrate Asim Saha, Second in Command of 18 Assam Rifles Arun Kumar, Sadar Sub-Divisional Magistrate Arup Dev, and others were present in the exercise. In the Mohanpur sub-division, Swami Vivekananda Mahavidyalaya and Mohanpur Pur Parishad office held an earthquake response drill. Earthquake drills were held today at Khairpur of Old Agartala Block in Jiraniya Sub-division. In the Amarpur sub-division, earthquake response drills were held at the sub-division youth affairs and sports office, Sankarpally high basic school, and Chandibari field. Earthquake drills were conducted today at 5 locations in the South Tripura district. In the Bilonia sub-division earthquake drill was conducted in Rajnagar panchayat.
Additional District Commissioner of North Tripura district Jayant Dey said in a press conference that in North Tripura district, 3 sub-divisions Dharmanagar, Kanchanpur, and Panisagar were held at the same time to deal with the earthquake. In the press conference, he said that the situation has been dealt with efficiently in these exercises in the district. Areas, where there are deficiencies, are identified. Necessary steps will be taken to meet all these deficiencies in the coming days. The exercise was held at the Sub-Divisional Ruler’s office of the Kanchanpur sub-division of the district. In the Dharmanagar sub-division, the exercise was held in the government residence of the sub-division administration and Dharmanagar government college in Nayapara. In Khoai district, mega-earthquake drills were held at Subhash Park Kohinoor Complex, Khoai District Hospital, Dasaratha Dev Smriti Mahavidyalaya, Sub-Divisional Governor’s Office Complex. District Magistrate DK Chakma, Additional District Magistrate Sushant Kumar Sarkar, Sub-Divisional Magistrate Vijay Sinha, and others were present in the exercise.
In the Vishalgarh Sub-division of Sipahijala district, earthquake prevention drills were also held at 5 places. In the Kamalpur sub-division, an earthquake drill was held at Kamalpur Government College. Sub-Divisional Governor Abhijit Chakraborty conducted the exercise in Kamalpur. Earthquake drills have also been conducted in the Korbuk division along with the entire state. The exercise was held at Panjiham Class XII School of Sub-division. In the Challenge sub-division, an earthquake drill was held in the sub-division ruler’s office premises. In the Kumarghat sub-division, the exercise program to deal with the earthquake started from Purta Maidan. The exercise was held at the Kumarghat sub-division hospital and on the bridge over the Manu river at Phatikrai.
