Students Taught Disaster Rescue Guidelines

The importance of disaster rescue and preparedness was stressed at the two-day seminar-cum-
demonstration on ‘Disaster Management’, organised by the Centre for Disaster Mitigation and
Management (CDMM) attached to the VIT university recently on the university campus.
A 35-member team comprising engineers, doctors and rescue workers under the guidance of the
NDRF, demonstrated rescue operations conducted during natural disasters such as earthquakes.
According to programme convener Dr Ganapathy, attached to the CDMM, while India accounted for
two per cent of the total area of the world, its population was equivalent to 16 per cent of the
world’s population. It was necessary to prevent damage likely to be caused by disasters instead of
spending huge money on disaster management. The focus of the meet was to impart techniques and
guidelines to students, to be prepared to manage disasters, he added.
S P Selvan, Deputy Inspector General of Police, National Disaster Response Force (NDRF) based in
Arakkonam, while inaugurating the seminar said that NDRF battalions established in various parts of
the country (Guwahati, Kolkata, Cuttack, Pune, Gandhinagar, Noida, Patna, Vijayawada and
Arakkonam) helped carry out relief and rescue operations during disasters while propagating ways of
preventing and mitigating damage due to disasters.
Commandant of the battalion M K Varma explained about rescue operations. Sessions on emergency
response, first aid management and disasters mitigation were conducted by experts in the field.
Equipment used in rescue operations during disasters was showcased at an exhibition put up on the
occasion. Over 600 students from various colleges and organisations from across the country took
part in the programme.

http://www.newindianexpress.com/education/student/Students-Taught-Disaster-Rescue-Guidelines/2014/03/18/article2114944.ece