PANAJI
Goa is now widening its disaster preparedness focus to include “rare” but highly dangerous events like nuclear and radiological disasters, beyond just natural calamities. State officials said that although there have been improvements in manpower and training, Goa is still not fully equipped to deal with such emergencies.
“We are used to dealing with conventional disasters like floods, cyclones and landslides, but nuclear and radiological disasters are rare and have a very high impact. They are what we call ‘black swan’ events, which are rare but with catastrophic consequences,” said Chief Secretary V Candavelou at the closing event of a three-week training programme conducted by the National Disaster Response Force (NDRF) on Wednesday.
He referred to disasters like Chernobyl and Fukushima to highlight the scale of destruction such events can cause.
“Nuclear and radiological disasters don’t always give us traditional warning signs. We need to improve our detection mechanisms. The police, fire brigades, and medical professionals need to be equipped to handle nuclear or radiological crises. We need exclusive and well-trained disaster response units...” Candavelou added, stressing the need for early detection and ongoing training.
Director General of Police Alok Kumar said that Goa is planning to set up a dedicated State Disaster Response Force (SDRF) unit to make emergency responses more effective. “While our skills training is progressing well, we still lack the necessary resources to combat disasters,” he said, adding, “We are working on proposals to acquire equipment.”
In the past year, Goa has conducted two major training sessions with support from the NDRF. The first focused on floods and landslides and trained 300 people. The latest one, aimed at handling nuclear, chemical and meteorological threats, trained over 200 participants, including doctors from GMC. “This recent training, though a bit unconventional, was crucial in preparing us for nuclear, meteorological and chemical disasters,” the DGP said.
