Safety Mock Drill on Earthquake Held at NTPC Bongaigaon

In an attempt to review the management plans during unprecedented emergency situations and enhancing the abilities to respond faster, a mock exercise on earthquake preparedness was organized on 7th October,2022 at NTPC Bongaigaon under supervision of the Shri G.M.Thangzom Dy Commandant/CISF.

The whole exercise was undertaken under the chairmanship of Chief Incident Controller, General Manager, O&M, Shri Umesh Singh in the presence of Shri Induri S. Reddy, GM (Maintenance).  Shri M.S Kandari, Asst. Commandant, CISF, NTPC Bongaigaon, Ms Kirti Yadav, Asst. Commandant, CISF, Security, Shri Shashi Shekhar, AGM (HR), Shri Krishno Tisso, Sr. Manager (Safety) were present along with other senior officers.

As per NTPC-Bongaigaon Disaster Management Plan, a Mock Drill on a major earthquake was conducted at Old Service Building and reservoir area inside the plant premises on 7th October, 2022. Rescued persons were given medical treatment by the medical team.Shri Kandari briefed the team on the incident and ensured the smooth coordination of the drill.

The mock drill was designed to simulate an earthquake with Assam as the epicenter. During the exercise, a scenario depicting a magnitude of 6.7 RS earthquake occurred at Assam and old service building (inside NTPC plant) badly affected in earthquake the mock exercise began at 11:00 AM.The employees and workers were informed about the simulated drill by the CISF, State Disaster Response Force (SDRF) and local police personnel within 15 minutes of the earthquake striking. The CISF Fire and security, State police as well as NTPC representatives were the first to arrive at the scene and begin rescue operations, followed by the SDRF team.

The SDRF team established an Incident command post near the Fire station where the major incident took place. It exhibited the process linked to the recovery of surface casualties, rope rescue techniques and other recovering strategies. After administering rudimentary first aid at the tent outside, people trapped inside and buried beneath the fallen building were rescued and sent to NTPC hospitals. Besides, the Police, Traffic Control, SDRF, Fire, safety department, Medical Team and other departments that participated in the rescue drills. The specialist task team was dispatched to the impacted areas, and within 25 minutes of their arrival, they were able to bring the situation under control. There were moderately injured people, 5-6 critically injured people, and 1 deceased trapped inside the building in the designed scenarios, all of whom were later rescued by concerned personnel, these injured victims were given first aid & CPR on the spot before being transported to the NTPC hospital for treatment.

Shri Kandari briefed the team on the incident and ensured the smooth coordination of the drill. Shri Umesh Singh, GM (O&M) spoke on various improvement areas during the mock drill and in the debriefing meeting and gave his suggestions. The entire exercise was completed successfully at 1230hrs after the debriefing of the exercise done at the Fire station by the DC / CISF & AC/Fire. Shri Umesh Singh, GM (O&M) spoke on various improvement areas during the mock drill and in the debriefing meeting and gave his suggestions. The participants and concerned officials from various Departments were also made aware about what needs to be done when disaster strikes.