Tsunami mock drill: 2,000 ‘evacuated’

The evacuation carried out under supervision of Alappuzha North police

A tsunami mock drill was conducted along the coastal areas of Alappuzha district on Thursday.

The exercise was intended to assess the preparedness of disaster management agencies to handle emergency situations.

Over 2,000 people in houses situated within 100 metres of the coast in five wards were evacuated in the afternoon as part of the drill. The wards included Vadakkanal, Kanjiramchira, Sea View, Mangalam and Thumpoli. The evacuation was carried out under the supervision of the Alappuzha North police.

Alerts were given to people prior to the operation. The National Disaster Response Force, State Disaster Response Force and the Fire and Rescue Services were involved in the exercise. A person who complained of chest pain was shifted to hospital. The residents of the area were shifted to relief centres at Thumpoli, Munnodi and Mangalam.

The evacuation operations began around 1.30 p.m. and was over by 2.30 p.m., officials said. The preparations were made to mitigate the disastrous effect of tsunami waves expected around 3 p.m., as per warning.

Earlier, a control room was opened at the Collectorate soon after receiving the alert from the Indian National Centre for Ocean Information Services. An emergency meeting was convened by Collector Veena N. Madhavan. Representatives of local bodies, the District Police Chief and officials of various departments took part in the meeting. Taluk-level control rooms also functioned to coordinate activities.