Mega Mock Exercise on earthquake to be held on 8th February, 2018
Vijyender Sharma
Dharmshala---Principal Secretary, Revenue and Disaster Management Shri Onkar Chand Sharma said that fourth Mega Mock Earthquake exercise would be conducted on 8th February, 2018 and all the 12 districts would participate. He said that Himachal Pradesh was highly vulnerable to earthquake as it comes under zone IV and V which is highly sensitive.
Shri Sharma while presiding over Orientation and Coordination Conference and Sensitization programme on Incident Response System (IRS) here yesterday, said that the objective of this exercise is to generate awareness amongst all stakeholders, evaluate response mechanism and to find out strength and gaps in preparedness and mitigation. The conference was attended by senior officers of Army, NDRF, ITBP, SSB, Police, Deputy Commissioners and Head of line departments.
Shri Onkar Sharma said that Table Top Exercise would be done on 7th February, 2018 at 11 AM onwards in which all Deputy Commissioners will attend the exercise through Video Conference while the State level Officers will be present at State Secretariat. He stressed the need of involvement of community as local people are the first responders in such circumstances as it takes time to the district and State authorities including National level teams to reach the incident place. He said that Disaster Management training should be incorporated in every training schedule of HIPA and other departmental trainings.
He said that earlier such mock exercise was done in November, 2016 in which seven most vulnerable districts i.e. Shimla, Kangra, Mandi, Chamba, Solan, Kinnaur and Kullu participated but this time all districts would be covered. He said that this mock exercise would help in enhance strategies, level of preparedness and risk resilience. He said that this exercise would accomplish desired aims and objectives and generate constructive and collective inputs as the whole exercise would be carried out under the observation of NDMA experts.
Special Secretary, Revenue and Disaster Management Shri D.C. Rana while detailing overview of earthquake scenario and mock exercise said that this exercise would be done in minimum five places in each district and various places such as residential, non-residential, hospitals, educational institutes and shopping complexes would be taken as effective areas for carrying out rescue, relief and mitigation work.
Shri Rana said that earthquake scenario would be as per IIT Mumbai, IIT Madras and NDMA systematic study in which it was presumed that an earthquake of 8 magnitude on Richter Scale occurred at 12 at night in Himachal Pradesh with epicenter between Sundernagar and Mandi and not only whole of State but neighboring States were affected.
Member NDMA Lt Gen (Retd) Shri N.C. Marwah said that Himachal has done remarkable work in Disaster Management and one of the best State in the Country in preparedness which has incorporated IRS in State Disaster Management Plan which is very comprehensive and allied to National Disaster Management Plan. He said that Mock Exercise would help in capacity building of local people and effective coordination between various agencies. He said that Himachal has decided to raise its State Disaster Response Force and NDMA will provide all necessary assistance and specialized training for it. He said that as Himachal is a Hilly State and landslides were quite frequent and NDMA had assigned IIT Mandi to undertake a pilot project for it.
Senior Specialist NDMA Major Gen (Retd) Dr. V.K. Naik gave a detail presentation on Sensitization Programme on Incident Response System (IRS).
CM presides over State Level World Wetland day at Jawali
Stresses for community participation in preserving wetlands for sustainable livelihood
Vijyender Sharma
Dharmshala----Himachal Pradesh encompasses a wide variety of wetlands, spread in various ecological zones which apart from biodiversity treasures were source of livelihood for the local community and have immense aesthetic and tourism values.
This was stated by Chief Minister Shri Jai Ram Thakur while presiding over the state level wetland day at Jawali in Kangra district today.
He exhorted the people to participate actively to conserve and assist restore wetlands as they help reduce flooding, replenish drinking water, filter- waste, provide urban green spaces, and were a source of livelihoods. Urban wetlands should be integrated into a city's sustainable future planning and development. The visitors should also be sensitised about littering, through Information, Education and communication programmes.
The core objective should be to conserve and help restoration of wetlands and involve locals at planning, implementation and monitoring level.
The International theme for World Wetlands Day 2018 is ' Wetlands for a Sustainable Urban Future'.
The Chief Minister said that there were three wetland sites in Himachal viz: Ramsar wetland sites as Pong Dam in Kangra, Renuka in Sirmaur and Chandertaal in Lahaul and Spiti.
Two more sites Rewalsar in Mandi district and Khajjiar in Chamba district have also been included by the Union Ministry of Environment and Climate change, for its conservation and management, said CM.
He said that the Ramsar wet land at Pong Dam has become a famous bird sanctuary which had witnessed an increases in number of migratory birds mostly from Siberia, Central Asia, Russia and trans-himalayan region in Tibet.
He said that there was tremendous Tourism potential in the state. Conserving bio-diversity, flora and fauna of the state will give boost to tourism and attract tourists. Himachal has been a home for migratory birds as could be seen from increase in number of species of waterfowls in wetlands.
The Chief Minister also released a booklet 'Major Wetlands of Himachal Pradesh' and a calendar of Pong Wetland. He also congratulated children for making beautiful paintings on wetland.
He said number of birds visiting Pong Dam this year was 1.10 Lakh as compared to 1.27 lakhs in 2017-18. The reason being quoted is climatic change due to global warming which has affected all the wetlands of India. However the number of species as compared to 93 in 2017-18 has increased to 117 in 2018.
The Chief Minister said behavioural changes of migratory birds need to be studied as well as proper measures should be taken to improve their habitats.
The Himachal Pradesh State Wetland Authority (HPSWA), under the aegis of HP, Council for Science, Technology and Environment is acting as a nodal agency for co-ordination of the Wetland conservation programme in the state with active participation of all stakeholders department.
Additional Chief Secretary Smt. Manisha Nanda while addressing on the occasion gave a detailed account of the Ramsar sites and their importance. She exhorted people to conserve wetlands and wild life habitats, water bodies along with aquatic species.
Health and Family Welfare and Science and Technology Minister Shri Vipin Parmar, Industries Minister Shri Vikram Singh, MLAs Shri Ravinder Dhiman, Shri Arjun Singh, Ms. Reeta Dhiman, Member Secretary Science and Technology, Shri Kunal Satayarthi, Principal Chief Conservator of Forests Shri Sanjiv Pandey and Shri R.C. Kang were also present on the occasion amongst others.
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