First-ever earthquake drill for India’s capital

Published on Thursday 16 February 2012 02:25

NEW Delhi has held its first-ever disaster drill to raise awareness in the city of 17 million people of the dangers of a catastrophic earthquake.

The exercise yesterday marked a strong shift by the city government in its readiness to address earthquake preparedness, after five decades of relatively little progress in following recommendations.

Nine out of ten buildings are at risk of moderate or significant damage if either of two nearby faults release a quake of about magnitude 7 or higher, the city said. Shaking might intensify if the waters of the nearby Yamuna River flow on to land and turn the subsoil to jelly.

“This is to prepare and see our strength and infrastructure,” firefighter Atul Garg said. “We have to see our strength and to educate the people.”

Officials staged disaster scenarios including road collapses and damage at hospitals. Water and food security departments practiced organising distribution. Some offices and markets were evacuated. Metro trains ground to a halt for more than half an hour. Dogs sniffed out people posing as survivors, and medics tended to fake injuries.

Fake smoke was released throughout New Delhi’s municipal headquarters, where police, firefighters and medics scrambled to carry people out on stretchers and to guide crowds of workers down smoke-filled stairwells and out of exits.

Many Delhi buildings were damaged in a 6.8 quake in March 1999. Geologists say a similar tectonic shift today could cause an 8.7-magnitude earthquake.