National Disaster Response Force (NDRF) carried out a drill in Mysuru simulating a gas leak with the objective of facilitating professional exchange of standard operating procedure (SOP) and ideas, on December 31.
It was conducted at the AG&P Pratham’s Liquified-to-Compressed Natural Gas (LCNG) station at Hebbal industrial area on the outskirts of Mysuru. District Disaster Management Authority and other stakeholders participated in the drill.
Apart from facilitating the exchange of SOPs, the drill helped test the response mechanism in pre- and post-emergency or disaster scenario.
The drill was also an exercise to teach life-saving and rescuing techniques to the public, and helped gain clarity and understanding of the roles and responsibilities of various stakeholders.
A scenario was envisaged in which an LNG tanker collides with an electric pole and pipeline construction machinery resulting in damage to the unloading pump discharge line of the LNG tanker and formation of a vapour cloud. The impact of the vapour cloud explosion was pegged at a radius of 65 metres, and life and property damage in this range was calculated. Fire and emergency personnel kept spraying foam on the tanker and the surrounding area to keep the area cool to prevent a fire while the NDRF evacuated residents in the affected areas.
The simulation exercise helped compute the response time and the sequence of action taken by the persons concerned, including those in charge of the project, and the operation and maintenance (O&M) personnel.
Even as the first scenario was brought under control, another ‘disaster’ was reported about ’uncontrolled leakage of LNG from a static storage tank’. Though the person in charge of O&M attends to the emergency to plug the leakage, he was unable to do so as per the simulation. As a result, technicians were deputed to the spot, and the ’leak’ was plugged within minutes.
The drill helped various stakeholders prepare for an emergency, and the district administration learnt the imperatives of keeping the emergency control room activated; to rush ambulances to the disaster zone and deploy cranes and other equipment for rescue operations. Besides alerting hospitals about the unfolding emergency, preparing a panel of doctors and para-medical staff was rehearsed.
The role of the police, the maintenance of law and order, and warning the local community got reinforced during the drill apart from compliance with other procedures, which are part of the SOP in handling such emergencies.
Published - December 31, 2022 06:05 pm IST
