Odisha CM to inaugurate 2nd BIMSTEC Disaster Management Exercise tomorrow

Odisha

Bhubaneswar: Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik will inaugurate the “Second BIMSTEC Disaster Management Excercise-2020 (BIMSTEC DMEx-2020)” at Hotel Mayfair here on Tuesday while Union (MoS) Home Nityananda Rai will launch field training exercise on Wednesday at Ramchandi Beach in Puri.

The National Disaster Response Force (NDRF) is hosting the three-day BIMSTEC DMEx-2020 with the themes “A cultural heritage site that suffers severe damage in the Earthquake” and “Flooding or Storm” in Bhubaneswar and Puri, respectively.

Five countries – Bangladesh, India, Myanmar, Sri Lanka and Nepal will participate in the exercise. However, Bhutan and Thailand are not participating in the exercise.

NDRF DG Satya Narayan Pradhan, Special relief Commissioner and OSDMA Managing Director Pradeep Kumar Jena on Monday jointly addressed a press conference on the eve of the event here.

The objective of this exercise is to test the existing emergency procedures for information, preparedness and emergency response, during a major earthquake and flood scenarios. The exercise will also provide an opportunity to enhance the coordination and cooperation involving multi-agency operations in an earthquake, flooding and storm surge. The exercise also tests multi-stakeholders coordination in a disaster scenario involving international, national, State, district and local agencies.

An exercise village has been set up at Ramchandi, Puri where simultaneous on aquatic disaster response with special attention to the damage to heritage site will take place as part of the exercise. This will provide real-time scenarios so that in times of disaster, a proper plan for response and coordination among member nation can be executed in multi-agencies scenarios.

International observers like United Nations Development Programme (UNDP), International Search and Rescue Advisory Group (INSARAG) and the International Centre for the Study of the Preservation and Restoration of Cultural Property (ICCROM) and national observers like Indian National Trust for Art and Cultural Heritage (INTACH), and Archaeological Survey of India (ASI) and representatives from various stakeholders The India Meteorological Department (IMD), National Disaster Management Authority (NDMA), National Centre for Medium Range Weather Forecasting (NCMRWF), the Indian National Centre for Ocean Information Services (INCOIS), the Central Water Commission (CWC), Animal Quarantine and Certification Service (AQCS), Civil Defence, Fire Services BIMSTEC, among others.

Odisha has been selected to host the exercise in view of State’s experience and success in taking disasters in the past.

 

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