It is a pity that Goa’s emergency services are not fully operational. Perhaps the rains have given them so much work that their staff needed to rest in the early morning.
Today, a huge tree was uprooted at the steps of the Portuguese Consulate in Altinho. My friend, who regularly goes for walks there, was lucky to escape being hit by the tree just seconds before it fell as he was climbing the stairs.
Although he had his mobile phone, he could not contact the fire brigade or the police on their mobile phones for half an hour. Luckily, I received his call, and I kept trying all the emergency numbers until I was able to get through.
The fire brigade arrived 20 minutes after the police. To make matters worse, the police did not know where the consulate was, and they had to follow my directions to reach the scene. How can these emergency services be expected to rescue people if they are trapped in an accident or other emergency?
