NDMA to conduct mock earthquake drill next year

Chandigarh, June 6 (IANS) The National Disaster Management Authority (NDMA) will conduct a mock earthquake exercise in February 2013 in Panchkula, Chandigarh, Mohali, Shimla and adjoining areas, a senior official said Wednesday.

The exercise aims to keep people alert about the eventuality of an earthquake in the region.

The mock drill will be conducted by NDMA, governments of Haryana, Himachal Pradesh and Punjab and the Chandigarh administration as a multi-state earthquake preparedness campaign, NDMA Vice Chairman M. Shashidhar Reddy said here.

Reddy, who has met the Punjab and Haryana chief ministers and U.T. administrator in this regard, said the exercise would create awareness among people on how to deal with an earthquake situation.

He said Himachal Pradesh, Punjab, Haryana, Uttrakhand, Jammu and Kashmir and Chandigarh are close to prominent fault lines making them highly vulnerable to earthquakes.

Kangra in Himachal Pradesh had suffered an earthquake of 7.8 magnitude on the Richter scale in 1905, he said.

On this pattern, the drill would be based on a hypothetical earthquake with epicentre at Sundernagar in Mandi district of Himachal Pradesh, 180 km from here, he said.

The magnitude would be 8.0 (Richter scale), maximum intensity of IX-plus, depth of 15 km and rupture length at 200 km.

"In the drill, Mandi's earthquake scenario would be worked out with realistic events built on scientific principles," he said.

In such an eventuality, he said, Panchkula, Ambala, Yamunanagar, Kurukshetra and Karnal districts of Haryana and Chandigarh fall in the zone likely to suffer extensive damage to infrastructure and buildings. Other districts across Punjab, Himachal and Haryana would also be affected.

Schools and colleges, malls, metro stations, hotels and resident welfare associations would be involved in the drill, he said.

The exercise will study the impact of the earthquake and the response of the government agencies and people to the disaster.