Drills simulating rescue and evacuation operations were conducted by personnel belonging to the Indian Army, the National Disaster Response Force (NDRF), the Rapid Action Force, police and other entities at the Rajasthan Armed Constabulary (RAC) Ground in Kota yesterday (12 February 2019), reports Business Standard.

For the drills, conditions arising in a hybrid disaster, that of dams across the Chambal river leaking in the aftermath of an earthquake, were mimicked. The simulation was part of the two-day ‘rahat’ exercise organised by the Sapta Shakti Command.

The objective of the exercise was to outline the significance of a collaborative response by multiple entities during disaster relief.

The simulation lasted for an hour and was conducted at six to seven different spots of the RAC ground. The simulation involved rescuing persons trapped under debris, saving people stuck on rooftops during floods, putting out fires, rapidly building emergency structures such as bridges and shifting the injured to hospitals.

Lt Gen Cherish Mathson, Kota District Collector Muktanand Agrawal, Kota (city) SP Deepak Bhargav were some of the political dignitaries present on the occasions.

“By the order of Prime Minister Narendra Modi, a series of exercises for relief operations have been started,” Mathson stated. He added that a lot had been learnt by Indian disaster agencies from the experiences in the Bhuj disaster and the Indian Ocean disaster.