Earthquake Mock Drill in Dehradun on November 15
District Administration to Assess Disaster Preparedness
Sirens to Sound — Citizens Urged Not to Panic
Dehradun: To ensure preparedness for any potential seismic emergency, the Dehradun District Administration will conduct a large-scale earthquake mock drill at 10 different locations across the district on November 15, 2025, starting at 9:30 am. The exercise aims to test the coordination, response efficiency, and readiness of all disaster management and rescue agencies.
Ahead of the mock drill, a tabletop exercise was held on Thursday under the supervision of District Magistrate Savin Bansal, where all departments and nodal officers associated with the Incident Response System (IRS) were briefed on their specific roles and responsibilities.
DM Bansal emphasized that the primary objective of the exercise is to evaluate the real-time response capacity of all participating departments, ensuring better inter-agency coordination and reduced response time in case of an actual earthquake. He added that the mock drill will simulate a hypothetical earthquake scenario, during which rescue, evacuation, and relief operations will be demonstrated on the ground.
“The mock drill is part of our ongoing effort to strengthen disaster preparedness in Dehradun. It will help assess the efficiency of our response system and identify areas needing improvement,” said District Magistrate Savin Bansal.
Sirens to Sound — Citizens Urged Not to Panic
During the mock drill, emergency sirens will be activated across participating sites to test the civil defense alert system. The district administration has appealed to citizens not to panic upon hearing the sirens, clarifying that they are part of the exercise and not a real emergency.
Locations Identified for the Mock Exercise
The disaster response exercise will be conducted simultaneously at 10 key sites across the district:
-
Tehsil Sadar (6 locations): Coronation Hospital, Maharana Pratap Stadium, ISBT, Araghar Electricity Substation, Dilaram Chowk Water Supply Division, and Pacific Mall.
-
Kalsi Block: Pata Village and Riyaika (Kasturba Gandhi Road).
-
Vikas Nagar: Industrial area, Selaqui.
-
Rishikesh: Near THDC premises.
In addition to demonstrating emergency response protocols, local residents at these sites will be educated about earthquake safety measures, evacuation routes, and first response actions.
Agencies Participating
Multiple government and emergency response agencies will participate in the mock drill, including the District Administration, Police Department, Health Department, Fire Services, Provincial Armed Constabulary (PRD), District Disaster Response Force (DDRF), National Disaster Response Force (NDRF), and State Disaster Response Force (SDRF).
Officials Present During the Tabletop Exercise
The preparatory tabletop session was attended by SDM Sadar Harigiri, City Magistrate Pratyush Singh, Chief Medical Officer Dr. M.K. Sharma, Project Director Vikram Singh, District Development Officer Sushil Kumar, District Supply Officer K.K. Agarwal, District Disaster Management Officer Rishabh Kumar, and nodal officers from various departments.
