HYDERABAD: It was a tense Tuesday morning at the Indian National Center for Ocean Information Services (INCOIS). It was at the centre of activity as an international mock drill was being held there along with 23 other Indian Ocean countries to test tsunami warning systems and preparedness. The fifth edition of the drill was organised by Intergovernmental Oceanographic Commission (IOC) of UNESCO.
An “earthquake” in Iran was simulated on the computer for the purpose. Within five minutes of the earthquake alert, INCOIS sent out a bulletin informing about the earthquake and potential threat of a tsunami to authorities concerned of all state governments and also to Indian Navy, Coast Guard, National Disaster Management Authority, apart from the governments of 23 other Indian Ocean countries. In fact, it issued 15 bulletins within a span of 12 hours.
Following this, as part of the mock drill, 8,000 people were evacuated from 6 districts in Gujarat and Maharashtra and rehabilitated to shelters that were already designated. On Wednesday, much larger scale of mock drill will be conducted as an earthquake measuring 9.3 on Richter Scale will be simulated from Northern Sumatra in Indonesia. Close to 1,14,000 people will be evacuated from about 375 villages in 32 districts of Odisha, Tamil Nadu, Andhra Pradesh and West Bengal as part of the drill today.