Around 6,000 students from government and private schools across the state will take part in a mock drill at Gandhi Maidan on Tuesday, highlighting measures to be adopted when natural and man-made tragedies strike.

Students from 10 middle and high schools will present a live demonstration on what steps one should take during natural calamities such as earthquakes and floods or man-made incidents such as road accidents or fire.

"The mock drill has been organised as part of Mukhyamantri Vidyalaya Suraksha Yojana (Chief Minister's School Safety Scheme) launched in 2015," said Sanjay Kumar Singh, state project director of Bihar Education Project Council.

"The students who are ambassadors to the society will display measures to be taken during emergency," he added.

Singh said chief minister Nitish Kumar, disaster management department minister Chandrashekhar and other officials will be present at Gandhi Maidan.

The Gandhi Maidan event - which is open to the public - will not be a one-off.

Around 84,000 government and private schools will also organise mock drills under the Vidyalaya Suraksha Jagrukta Pakhwara (school safety awareness fortnight) for 15 days from Tuesday.

Singh said the idea behind creating awareness about disaster management through students was to reach out to people.

"There are more than 2.5 crore students in government and private schools. If we are able to inform students about measures to be taken during disasters, half our work is over. They will inform the same to their parents and relatives," added Singh.

Arti Rani, the state programme officer at Bihar Education Project, said: "During earthquake, 'Drop, Cover and Hold On' can save lives and reduce the risk of injury. We have informed students about the three measures that everyone should learn as they reduce the risk of injury during an earthquake."

The students will also give a live demonstration on the new law, describing how passers-by can take road accident victims to hospital without fear of being harassed by police.

Anjali Kumari, a Class IX student from Government Girls' High School, Bankipore, said: "Last month, experts from National Disaster Response Force (NDRF) and State Disaster Response Force (SDRF) trained us and told us about the measures to be taken during natural and man-made calamities. We are excited to take part in the mock drill, as it is not only informative but also spreads a message to the society."

The state education department, along with personnel from NDRF and SDRF, carried out special training session for teachers.

In the first phase, NDRF and SDRF personnel trained select teachers from every district as master trainers.

These district-level master trainers trained teachers at the block level, who finally taught teachers at the panchayat level.

Disaster management is crucial for Bihar, where 28 of the 38 districts are flood-prone, 15 of which are severely flood-prone. Flood and drought often occur at the same time in the state, and heatwaves also spark fires.