State level mock drill held to deal with chemical disasters

Today, a mock drill was held at Paradip in Jagatsinghpur district in collaboration with the state and national disaster management authorities to prepare for possible chemical disasters. Paradip-based PPL and IFFCO industries participated in this mock drill. On behalf of the district administration, under the direct supervision of District Collector Shri J. Sonal, ADM Paradip, Shri Niranjan Behera at PPL, and Kujang Tehsildar Shri Swaroop Nandan Behera at IFFCO were present and guided the participants to conduct this chemical mock drill. Under the supervision of Deputy Director, Factory and Boiler Department, Cuttack Division, , Shri Manoj Panda at PPL and Assistant Director, Factory and Boiler Department, Shri Chandra Shekhar Behera at IFFCO ,all the art and science of rescue work were demonstrated. First, the sirens sounded in these two industrial establishments due to toxic ammonia leak in IFFCO and fire due to sulphuric acid in PPL. Alerts were given inside the plant and in the surrounding areas about the possible disaster and the affected people were taken to the nearby hospitals as per the pre-determined schedule. For this, the affected people of PPL were shifted to PPL township and those of IFFCO to IFFCO township and IFFCO Swarna Jayanti Sabhagar. The affected people were provided with dry food and water there. The art of repairing leaks at gas leak sites and extinguishing fires caused by sulfuric acid with water  was demonstrated. The rescuers wore gas tight clothes and showed their rescue skills. In this program, the District Emergency  Officer Ms. Anisha Das and DPO Sudhanshu Prasti gave detailed information to the public about the control room, triaged center, relief center, pollution area, yellow green  and red zone. After the mock drill, all the officials went to the relief center and inspected the condition of the affected people. NDRF, Odraf, Fire Department took a major part in this chemical mock drill exercise. The concerned officials advised the public not to panic and be prepared to deal with such accidents that occur suddenly in the current era of rapid industrialization.