The National Disaster Operations Centre (NDOC) on Wednesday held a tsunami mock drill in Mombasa to test the country’s disaster preparedness.
NDOC Director Nathan Kigotho, said the exercise was carried out in other Indian Ocean countries including Tanzania, Australia, Madagscar, India, Malaysia among others.
The drill which was carried out by the police service, Kenya Ferry Services, Kenya Red Cross Society, Kenya Meteorological Department and St John Ambulance involved evacuation of fishermen, divers, beach operators and volunteers.
“Basically we were gauging our state of preparedness to handle real emergencies and that is why we have turned the erstwhile peaceful Shelly public beach in Mombasa into a disaster zone,” said Kigotho.
On his part, Mombasa County Commissioner Evans Achoki, who is also the chair of the county disaster management committee, said communities living along the coastline were prepared for evacuation on Wednesday night.
Peter Macharia, the Meteorological services assistant director, said the exercise was aimed at enhancing the response system in the country as well as improving coordination among government institutions.
“The drill also seeks to test Standard Operating Procedures (SOP) and communication links at all levels of the warning chain,” said Macharia, as quoted by KBC.
A tsunami is a series of waves in a water body caused by the displacement of a large volume of water, generally in an ocean or a large lake.