Shillong, Oct 13: As part of the International Day for Disaster Reduction observation, a Simulation Planning and Exercise (Mock Drill) was conducted today for Civil Hospital, Shillong. The exercise was organised by the District Disaster Management Authority, (DDMA), East Khasi Hills, Shillong and conducted by Civil Hospital Shillong under the aegis of the USAID-MHA-UNDP partnership project titled “Developing Resilient Cities through Risk Reduction in the context of Disasters and Climate Change”.
The objective of the exercise was to test the Disaster Management Plan of Civil Hospital and further strengthen it by identifying areas of improvement. The exercise was conducted by simulating an earthquake scenario of magnitude 8.5 on Richter scale which Civil Hospital, Shillong activated the Hospital Disaster Management Plan (HDMP).
During the mock drill, the hospital disaster management team carries out different search and rescue operations as per the SOPs laid out in the HDMP. A mock drill was followed by a debriefing session whereby the observers drawn from NEIGRIHMS, Bethany Hospital and Directorate of Health Services analyzed the mock drill and gave their feedback on the exercise which focused mainly on the areas of improvement.
The exercise was also attended by the officials of the District Disaster Management Authority, East Khasi Hills, Shillong, United Nations Development Programme, Shillong and other hospitals of the city such as Children’s Hospital, Woodland Hospital, Nazareth Hospital, Reid Chest Hospital, Roberts Hospital and Ganesh Das M&C Hospital.
