Civil Defence Mock Drill conducted in South Andaman District
Sri Vijaya Puram ,
In view of direction of Ministry of Home Affairs, Govt. of India, South Andaman District of A&N Islands conducted OPERATION ABHYAS (Civil Defence Mock Drill) on 07.05.2025 at 04:00 pm with primary goal to assess the present preparedness level of District Response Team and to find out gaps. The Scenario was Air Raid Simulation near Jawaharlal Nehru Rajkeeya Mahavidyalaya (JNRM), Sri Vijaya Puram, A&N Islands that was followed by evacuation of present people on the site, Fire simulation, search and rescue, casualty evacuation of trapped people from the damaged building, their shifting in the nearby established temporary hospital and relief shelter.
The District Administration, South Andaman alongwith Civil Defence Volunteers and Emergency Support Functionaries (Disaster Management, A&N Police, Health, Fire & Emergency Services, NDRF, APWD, Electricity, NYK Volunteers, NCC, NSS, and all other line Department) of the Andaman & Nicobar Islands participated with great enthusiasm during entire exercise. The exercise was also witnessed by Hon'ble Member of Parliament, Shri Bishnu Pada Ray and some other public representatives.
The Mock Drill was conducted under the supervision of the Secretary (DM), A&N Administration, Shri ASPS Raviprakash, IAS. The Deputy Commissioner, South Andaman, Shri Arjun Sharma, IAS, Shri Sunny Gupta, IPS, Incident Commander/ADM (S/A), Shri Vinayak Chamadia, IAS, AC(S), Shri Abhishek Gulia led the entire exercise.
In accordance with the drill scenario, the ANC sent a message to SEOC about Air Attack at JNRM. The siren installed at JNRM, Sri Vijaya Puram briefly sounded during the exercise as part of the standard procedure. Blackout measures was also taken and practiced at the time of exercise. A temporary Hospital was established by Health Department at Andaman Club and Relief Shelter was setup at nearby Girls School on the direction of Incident Commander. All rescued persons were shifted to relief shelter and injured persons were shifted to temporary hospital for their primary treatment.
At the preparatory stage, the Incident Commander had taken pre briefing session on 06th May, 2025 at Aapda Prabhandan Bhawan and directed the appropriate resource Departments, Fire, Police, Electricity, NDRF & Health and others for support and assistance. The Fire & Police Department personnel & NDRF team effectively conducted safe evacuation and search and rescue operations. Ambulances and fire engines quickly arrived at the simulated location to rescue and treat the injured. The teams of Resource Departments carried out Search & Rescue and provided First Aid to the victims.
All activities were carried out in a controlled and supervised environment by trained professionals and coordinators. At 6 pm, the mock drill came to an end with a debriefing session. The Civil Defence Mock Drill is a preparedness exercise which seeks to identify strengths, weaknesses, and gaps in the current Civil Defence preparedness during emergencies like war, missile attacks, or aerial strikes. The drill was aimed to test the preparedness and efficiency of the current Civil Defence mechanisms at the UT and local levels. The exercise aimed at evaluating the response capabilities of various agencies, their coordination, and the public's preparedness to handle different types of emergencies, a press release from Directorate of Disaster Management said.
