PANAJI
The State of Goa along with the rest of the country is putting in great efforts to prepare and respond to any type of disasters including CBRN (chemical, biological, radiological and nuclear) and as a part of the exercise the Department of Fire and emergency services carried out a live but mock demonstration of flood rescue operation on Thursday morning at Ribandar near Panaji.
The Divisional Officer Rajendra Haldankar, Station Fire Officers Dilip Gawas, Gill Souza, Santosh Gawas, Rahul Desai, Rupesh Sawant and their team participated in this demonstration that was carried out with the help of five newly acquired Rapid Deployment Crafts (RDC) inflatable boats with 25 horsepower outboard motor used for flood rescue purpose. The boats with two trained on-board rescue crew can carry eight rescued persons at a time to safety as the total carrying capacity of it is ten persons.
“We have received five such boats as disaster preparedness equipment from the State Disaster Response Fund (SDRF), funded by the revenue department and around 38 of our firefighters have undergone training in operating them,” briefed Ashok Menon, director, Directorate of Fire and Emergency Services.
Menon added that his 40 men are trained in various aspects such as swift water flood rescue, urban search and rescue, medical fast response and (CBRN) - Chemical, Biological, Radiological and Nuclear disaster management. While 10 persons are specially trained for CBRN disaster management aspect and 30 more have yet to undergo training. The training was imparted at the National Disaster Response Force (NDRF) 5th Battallion, Pune which is having operational responsibility of Goa and Maharashtra, as both are landslide prone areas and have industrial estates too.
Out of the total 200 members of the State level unit of those trained for disaster management, 50 are deployed from the Fire and Emergency Services, 50 from the Central Police Organisations, 50 from Home Guards and 50 from Civil Defence Organisations.
It’s been a decade since India is seriously preparing to respond to all types of disasters. The NDRF with its motto ‘Apada Seva Sadaiva’ was set up to train, equip and respond to any type of disasters has its units geographically located in those areas prone to frequent disasters to facilitate their speedy response. If needed, the efforts of these organisations would be augmented with the resources of the Indian Armed Forces depending on the magnitude of the disaster.
