India, April 3 -- The Directorate of Civil Defence conducted a full-scale mock drill simulating a hostile air attack across 13 districts of Delhi on Thursday night to assess the preparedness of disaster response agencies.

A circular issued by the directorate of civil defence to magistrates of 13 districts on March 27 outlined the drill components, including air raid warnings, crash blackouts, camouflaging, response by all 12 civil defence services, and evacuation.

HT visited Rajkumari Amrit Kaur College of Nursing in Lajpat Nagar, where the exercise began at 8.10pm with a blackout. The campus, housing around 250 students, then saw a swift and coordinated response from multiple agencies to carry out evacuation and rescue operations.

Dur...