Dehradun, April 11 -- A drill was conducted on Friday in seven districts of Uttarakhand associated with the annual Char Dham Yatra to assess disaster preparedness and strengthen coordination among departments, officials said. The exercise was organised under the joint aegis of the National Disaster Management Authority (NDMA) and the Uttarakhand State Disaster Management Authority (USDMA) and was carried out simultaneously at nearly 50 locations across Uttarkashi, Chamoli, Rudraprayag, Tehri Garhwal, Pauri Garhwal, Dehradun and Haridwar districts. Madan Kaushik, state disaster management and rehabilitation minister, inspected the exercise and interacted virtually with incident commanders, nodal officers and field teams to review the coordination and response capabilities of departments. Kaushik said, "Since the 2013 Kedarnath disaster, the state has significantly strengthened its disaster response mechanisms, early warning systems and coordination among agencies". Vice chairman of the state advisory committee on disaster management, Vinay Ruhela, directed officials to further "improve traffic management, crowd control, parking arrangements, medical services, drinking water supply and sanitation facilities along the pilgrimage routes". He also stressed maintaining vigilance at landslide-prone stretches, narrow roads and bridges. Secretary of disaster management and rehabilitation, Vinod Kumar Suman, said such drills were organised every year by USDMA in coordination with NDMA. The drill simulated different disaster scenarios across the districts. In Rudraprayag, authorities conducted a simulated helicopter emergency at the Kedarnath helipad following a hard landing caused by a technical malfunction, where rescue teams carried out evacuation and crowd control operations. In Chamoli, teams responded to a scenario of pilgrims stranded on the Badrinath-Govindghat route due to heavy snowfall and an avalanche-like situation, arranging transport to safe shelters along with food and medical assistance. In Uttarkashi, a simulated flash flood triggered by a glacial lake burst in the Gangotri region was carried out, during which warnings were issued and people were evacuated. In Dehradun, a mock exercise simulated a fire and stampede at the Rishikesh Transit Camp, where disaster response teams evacuated pilgrims and provided emergency medical assistance. In Pauri, authorities held an evacuation drill at a pilgrim rest house in Srinagar following simulated earthquake tremors. In Tehri district, teams simulated a rise in water levels in Devprayag following controlled release from the Tehri Dam and carried out evacuation of people from riverbanks....