Chennai (Tamil Nadu) [India], May 7 : A comprehensive mock drill was carried out by the Tamil Nadu Disaster Response Force (TNDRF) at the Chennai port on Wednesday as part of a nationwide initiative to assess emergency preparedness and response capabilities.


The drill was conducted in collaboration with multiple agencies, including the Fire Department, National Cadet Corps (NCC), State Disaster Response Force (SDRF), medical teams, police, and electricity department officials.
These teams demonstrated various emergency procedures, including evacuation, first aid, and safety protocols, ensuring that residents were equipped with essential knowledge for handling potential threats.
Amid escalating tensions with Pakistan, full-scale civil defence mock drills are being held across the country on Wednesday to assess India's preparedness for emergency response.
This comes a day after the Ministry of Home Affairs (MHA) instructed all states and union territories to carry out the drills to evaluate their preparedness against "new and complex threats.
"The drills are being carried out across major cities, including Delhi, Mumbai, Pune, Bengaluru, Gwalior, and Jaipur, focusing on evaluating local response capabilities to security challenges.
These drills serve as a critical step in evaluating India's preparedness for handling complex security situations, providing essential insights into the nation's ability to respond swiftly and effectively.
Meanwhile, several states observed blackouts on Wednesday as part of the nationwide civil defence mock drills ordered by the Ministry of Home Affairs (MHA).
The exercise, which involved scheduled blackouts at key locations, aimed to test the country's emergency preparedness against potential threats.
From Rashtrapati Bhavan and Vijay Chowk in Delhi to Raj Bhavan in Patna, lights were switched off at several key places. The exercise involved scheduled blackouts at several major locations across the country.
Cities like Barmer in Rajasthan, Gwalior in Madhya Pradesh, Surat in Gujarat, Shimla in Himachal Pradesh, and Patna in Bihar also took part in the drill.
This came after the Indian Armed Forces launched Operation Sindoor in the early hours of Wednesday, targeting terrorist infrastructures in Pakistan and Pakistan-occupied Jammu and Kashmir (PoJK). This operation was a retaliatory response to the April 22 terror attack in Pahalgam, Jammu and Kashmir, which resulted in the deaths of 26 civilians, including one Nepali national.
Hours after India conducted a series of strikes on terrorist sites in Pakistan and Pakistan-occupied Kashmir (PoK), Foreign Secretary Vikram Misri, Colonel Sofiya Qureshi, and Wing Commander Vyomika Singh held a media briefing in the national capital to share the details of the operation.
Operation Sindoor was launched by the Indian Armed Forces to deliver justice to the victims of the Pahalgam terror attack and their families.
Nine terrorist camps were targeted and successfully destroyed... The locations were so selected to avoid damage to civilian infrastructures and loss of any civilian lives", Wing Commander Vyomika Singh said.
Col Sofiya Qureshi presented the videos of the destruction of terror camps, including from the Muridke and where David Headley and Ajmal Kasab, perpetrators of the 2008 Mumbai attacks, received training. Other than Muridke, Sarjal camp in Sialkot, Markaz Ahle Hadith, Barnala and Markaz Abbas, Kotli and Mehmoona Joya camp, Sialkot, were targeted in the strikes conducted by the Indian Army.
Foreign Secretary Vikram Misri said that the attack on Pahalgam was driven by an objective of undermining the return of normalcy in Jammu and Kashmir.
"The attack in Pahalgam was marked with extreme barbarity, with the victims mostly killed with head shots at close range and in front of their family...the family members were deliberately traumatised through the manner of killing, accompanied by the exhortation that they should take back the message. The attack was clearly driven by the objective of undermining normalcy returning to Kashmir," he said.
India has carried out its deepest strikes inside Pakistan's undisputed territory since 1971, successfully targeting terror camps in Pakistan and Pakistan-occupied Jammu and Kashmir. This marks New Delhi's most significant military action within Pakistani territory in over five decades.