Bangalore techies: saving files at work, lives outside

Bangalore: Tackling raging fires. Rescuing those
trapped in building collapses. Attending to
victims of natural disasters. These noble duties
just got added to the to-do list of thousands of
Bangalore techies recently.
Nearly 8000 professionals in India's IT hub have
volunteered to be a part of the National Disaster
Management Authority or NDMA's Civil Defence
Wing, which is witnessing a gradual rise in
enrollment. An initiative of the Union Home
Ministry, the Wing aims to recruit at least one
percent of a city's population as part of the
volunteer force.
Although Bangalore is far from that figure, there
are a few encouraging trends. Almost 40 per
cent of the Civil Defence wing is constituted by
women. Also, the corporates in the city have
relaxed their working hours to let their
employees participate in the rescue and relief
missions or attend to training.
"We re-schedule our working hours, sometimes
extending to the weekends. If need be, we start
early morning but we do not compromise on our
work. In our organization, we have 17 people as
part of Civil Defence. We are called commandos
or wardens," 28-year-old Kiran says.
The Civil Defence members go through a three-
level training after a background check. Once
recruited, they are only an SMS away when
required, appearing at the disaster sites in their
fluorescent jackets.
During the Malleshwaram blast in April this
year, it was this team which first rushed to the
spot and helped with rescue.
"The techies are helping physically, but their
knowledge also comes in handy to help set up a
modern force. We need support from IT
employees to build a control room which can
bring in images from the disaster site," says Dr
Chetan, Chief Commander of Civil Defence in
Karnataka.
Apart from accidents and disasters, the team
also helps out during elections or major
festivals to manage the crowds on the streets.

http://m.ndtv.com/article/cities/bangalore-techies-saving-files-at-work-lives-outside-423719