DDMA conducts mock earthquake drill at 55 locations across 11 districts

A full-scale mock drill titled ‘Suraksha Chakra’ was conducted across Delhi on Friday to test the capital’s preparedness for earthquake and chemical hazards. The exercise, led by the Delhi Disaster Management Authority (DDMA) in collaboration with the National Disaster Management Authority (NDMA), took place at 55 locations, including hospitals, schools, metro stations and power plants, covering all 11 districts of the city.

The exercise commenced at 9.03 am with a simulated earthquake scenario, prompting a coordinated emergency response across the identified sites. These included hospitals, schools, industrial zones, government offices, markets and vulnerable urban settlements.

The primary objective was to validate the Incident Response System (IRS) at the state, district and site levels; test activation protocols for the State Emergency Operations Centre (SEOC); assess inter-agency coordination; and evaluate readiness for medical emergencies, fire response, chemical leaks and public warning systems.

Over 20 stakeholder departments participated, including the Delhi Police, Fire Services, Health and Family Welfare, Revenue, Education, Delhi Jal Board, MCD, Transport, PWD, Civil Defence, Home Guards, private hospitals, RWAs, school authorities, metro staff and market associations.

A special focus was placed on chemical disaster response in industrial clusters and storage facilities across West, North-East, and South-West Delhi.

“Today’s exercise was a crucial step towards building a truly resilient and scientifically-informed disaster response system for Delhi. We thank all departments, district teams and citizens for their active cooperation. The learnings from this exercise will be used to strengthen the city’s institutional readiness, particularly for earthquake and chemical emergencies,” said Sushil Singh, Special CEO, Disaster Management.