84 'dead' in mock drill at Metro
Bomb explosion, earthquake enacted to check safety measures
In a mock drill, conducted across 11 Metro stations to check disaster preparedness of various emergency response services in the city on Saturday, 84 people were declared ‘dead’ while 220 were seriously ‘injured’.
The drill started at 11 am and continued till 12:20 pm. It caught thousands of Metro commuters unaware since the authorities had not revealed its timings.
“I had known some mock drill will be conducted but I was not aware of the time. As I result, I was stranded for over half-an-hour at Karol Bagh,” said Rajender Singh, a Noida resident.
Delhi disaster management authority in collaboration with national disaster management authority conducted the drill to prepare Metro commuters to deal with an emergency situation.
Delhi Police, New Delhi Municipal Council, Delhi fire service, Army, CATS, Delhi municipalities, Municipal Corporation of Gurgaon, Public Works Department, Delhi Jal Board and a bomb disposal squad comprise the emergency support functionaries (ESFs) in the drill.
Karol Bagh, Dwarka Sec-11, Central Secretariat, Pitampura, Azadpur, Badarpur, Kirti Nagar, Chandni Chowk, Shahdara, Noida City Centre and Guru Dronacharya in Gurgaon are the stations where drills were conducted.
Vijay Dev, divisional commissioner (revenue) said observers from the Army were deployed in each district and headquarter to monitor the response of the ESFs.
“There were a total of 11 Metro stations in this drill. It was unique because the national capital region involving the states of Delhi, Uttar Pradesh and Haryana also participated in the drill,” said Dev.
“A Metro station from each of the nine revenue districts, except east, from Delhi participated,” added Dev.
Disaster scenarios
The divisional commissioner said various disaster scenarios were created at different stations.
In Central district, there was a terrorist attack scene at Karol Bagh Metro station and a bomb exploded near a ticket counter at the station.
The passengers panicked and a stampede followed in which 15 people were termed killed and 27 seriously injured.
The nearby hospitals were alerted and the Army observers were noting down the response time of ambulances.
At Pitampura, there was a 7.3 magnitude earthquake scenario and the station infrastructure was damaged.
The main entrance and platform developed huge cracks, and the entry and exit gates collapsed.
The services of the Metro trains had to be stopped due to broken rail tracks.
