India will host the first South Asian Annual Disaster Management Exercise (SAADMEx-2015) that aims to provide a platform for strengthening regional disaster response mechanism amongst the SAARC countries.
The four-day common exercise with the participation of delegations and rescuers from each of the eight SAARC Nations - India, Afghanistan, Bangladesh, Bhutan, Maldives, Nepal, Pakistan and Sri lanka will be conducted by the National Disaster Response Force (NDRF). It will commence in the national capital region on Monday.
The key focus of SAADMEx-2015 is to test coordination efforts, create synergy and synchronise efforts to institutionalise regional cooperation on disaster response among the member countries.
On the first day, different kinds of disaster situations will be simulated and individual and joint responses measures will be discussed to better the mechanism for such efforts.
On the second day of the exercise, response for collapsed structure search and rescue (CSSR) will be carried out at Ghaziabad to demonstrate the CSSR capabilities of participating nations, which will be followed by a demonstration on chemical emergency response at Greater Noida on the third day.
During the course of the exercise, various types of latest gadgets and equipment as well as varied disaster response skill sets will be demonstrated by the teams of the participating nations.
On the last day, debriefing and ‘After Action Review’ (AAR) will be conducted to gather important lessons learnt.