Click to play videoGurgaon: A mock disaster management drill in the Delhi suburb of Gurgaon ended in disaster on Friday as a participant in the drill was crushed under a fire tender.
The mock drill was choreographed by the newly-set up National Disaster Management Authority (NDMA) to fine-tune preparedness to face disasters.
There was not much that could go wrong with the drill. After all, participants had rehearsed the drill for four days before inviting the media. And if organisers were under any stress, they did not show it.
But what is it about Murphy's Law that rings so true? It says that anything that can go wrong, it will.
Sepoy Ramanand Negi, a para-military trooper seconded to the National Disaster Reponse Force, was crushed under a speeding fire tender when the drill was simulating a chemical leak.
If a death can happen in a mock drill, one can well imagine the situation in an actual emergency. But organisers did not seem in the least bit shaken by Negi's death. Says Vice-Chairman of NDMA General NC Vij: "The police immediately acted and he was evacuated in seconds."
It doesn't matter that he was already dead. But at least someone was being honest. "Nobody knew what was happening where, and as has been said, there were so many people there," says DC Gurgaon, RP Bhardwaj.
However, some like Lt Gen JR Bhardwaj, a member of NDMA, seemed satisfied with the drill: "Everybody's performance has exceeded expectations."
If a real disaster was to strike a high-rise building, Gurgaon does not even have snorkel fire tenders to deal with the situation. It could take at least 45 minutes to rush a snorkel like this from Delhi to Gurgaon to deal with the situation.
The incident has raised questions about the coherence of disaster management drills and the ability of Government agencies in handling a real calamity.
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