Police, PWD, students, fire services to collaborate
BY A GT REPORTER
MARGAO: With an ambitious plan to make South Goa disaster-free by 2010, the South Goa Collectorate officials are busy engaged in preparing an exhaustive database on disaster management.
The database will undertake a detailed study of identifying the most prone areas and how to deal with the situation that will also involve the members of the public.
“An exhaustive database on disaster management will be set up within a short period of time which will allow lay people to keep themselves safe at times of emergencies. My mission for South Goa is to make it completely safe by 2010” stated Ashutosh Apte, incharge of the disaster management group for South Goa.
The official also divulged that in the recently held familarisation exercise by the disaster management department, seven groups were formed to deal with calamities such as floods, cyclones, earthquakes, landslides, transportation accidents and epidemics.
Besides, including fire fighting of industrial accidents in the disaster category. Each of these seven groups will comprise of a joint mamlatdar, PSI, a sub-officer of the Fire Services department, a junior engineer from the PWD department (Roads) and WRD (Water Resources department). The group will also include faculty from the Valpoi police training school and a faculty of the NUSI. Each group will be given any one calamity in which a detail study will have to be done.
The study will have to suggest some preventive measures to avoid the calamity. The study will also include ways and means to avoid re-occurrence of the calamity in the same place.
“We will also try to go into details of rescue operations such as shelter to be provided to the affected and how to restore life to normalcy,” added Apte.
The Disaster Management department, South Collectorate will also use the services of student social groups like the NSS, NCC, Scouts and Guides of various educational institutes to specifically train students to carry out rescue operations.
