To assess preparedness for dealing with possible flood-related disasters, the Haryana government has conducted a large-scale mock drill on Thursday across the state.

The mock exercise was attended by officials from various departments, including health, SDRF, police, fire brigade, public works department and others. As soon as the warning sirens were sounded, the district administration immediately went into alert mode and launched relief and rescue operations to tackle the simulated flood emergency.

An exercise was conducted at Japti Chapra village in Indri tehsil in Karnal district under the guidance of the Deputy Commissioner Dr Anand Kumar Sharma. Additional Deputy Commissioner (ADC) Dr Rahul Raiya visited the affected site as well as the staging area set up at the Panchayat Ghar in Kalsora village to review disaster management arrangements.

The exercise was designed around a hypothetical situation of heavy rainfall and flooding in the district. As per the mock scenario, floodwaters had entered the fields in Japti Chhapra village, leaving several farmers stranded.

Soon after the emergency alert, the district administration activated the emergency operation centre, following which teams from NDRF, police, fire brigade, health department and other agencies launched a coordinated rescue operation. The stranded farmers were safely evacuated and shifted to Indri Civil Hospital, where critically injured persons received treatment while others were given first aid and moved to relief camps.

ADC Raiya said that the mock drill was conducted to evaluate preparedness for potential flood situations in the district. He said that an emergency alert was issued at 10:08 am and rescue teams reached the spot within 14 minutes. During the drill, dummy rescue operations were carried out to safely evacuate five persons trapped in the flood situation.

He further said that construction of retaining walls and other necessary protective measures at identified vulnerable flood sites would be taken up on priority.

A similar drill was conducted at Kaithal district. The exercise was carried out under the supervision of Deputy Commissioner Aparajita and SDM Sanjay Kumar. The mock drill simulated a hypothetical building collapse caused by heavy rainfall and flooding at the Saral Kendra in the Mini Secretariat and the Government Senior Secondary School near Committee Chowk.

The operation began at 9 am with the sounding of emergency sirens, after which information was immediately relayed to the Emergency Response Center. Rescue teams rushed to the sites and launched rescue operations.

During the drill, a total of 21 people trapped under debris were rescued from both locations. Of these, three persons were symbolically declared dead. DC Aparajita monitored the entire operation from the conference hall of the Mini Secretariat and later reviewed the exercise with officials from all participating departments. She said that disasters can occur at any time, and such exercises provide an opportunity to evaluate the effectiveness of the Disaster Management Plan and strengthen disaster response mechanisms.