‘Delhi ready to deal with any calamity’

Stating that unregularised colonies and the walled city are vulnerable to natural disaster, Delhi Government will conduct mock drills to check preparedness of various government agencies to deal with any disaster and natural calamity.

The move came after Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal on Monday held a review meeting on the preparedness of the national Capital in dealing with natural and man-made disasters in the wake of devastating earthquake in Nepal.

Official claim that three districts (New Delhi, North-East and South-East) have prepared a District disaster management plan while rest are in the final process.

According to the government, to deal with any disaster manpower is required and in last five years 19,000 civic defence personnel were registered with the government.

“We have got 11 Quick Response Teams (QRT) in all 11 districts and we are planning to add more. We have also got secured TETRA communication network in case of mobile network fail,” K K Sharma, Delhi Chief Secretary, said.

Claiming that Delhi is ready to deal with any calamity, Divisional Commissioner, Ashwani Kumar said: “We have 10 well equipped disaster management centres in Delhi.”

According to officials, soon Delhi Chief Minister and Lieutenant Governor Najeeb Jung will hold a meeting on strengthening disaster management plan.

However, experts claim most buildings in Delhi may not meet requirements on seismic resistance and are vulnerable.

According to the officials, in state disaster management plan, the government is incorporating unauthorised colonies and the plan will be finalised within six to eight weeks.

“In vulnerable areas we are strengthening our civil defence mechanism. We are identifying buildings like schools, community centres, where people can be moved and rehabilitated in case of calamities. 

We are also marking disaster lanes, which can be kept free for vehicular movement,” Ashwini Kumar said.