Jamshedpur: The deputy commissioner (DC) of East Singhbhum Amit Kumar today said that taking preemptive measures to prevent occurrence of a natural calamity or any disaster was imperative to ensure that no loss of lives or property is caused.
He was speaking during a meeting with the team of National Disaster Response Force (NDRF), representatives of Tata Steel, Uranium Corporation of India Limited and officials of district administration.
The DC said that it was a usual tendency of the district administration to become fully active during any disaster or calamity. �Normally during flash floods or any other emergency situation, the entire administration becomes highly active. But there is need for the departments to ensure that plans to prevent disasters are also implemented well before time so that they work effectively and yield desired results,� he said.
The DC said that crisis management plans are being chalked out everywhere in districts, but it was important for the plans to have the desired impact. He said that generally preventive measures are not resorted to by the departments, companies or other establishments.
This leads to a sudden and major disaster in the times to come. �We prepare a blueprint of our resources when they are required and make an evaluation of our capacity. All further works are done accordingly. There is an urgent need to ensure that we have the minimum resources at our discretion so that we may deal with any situation whatsoever. There is also a lack of professionalism.
Even if we have teams, they do not have adequate training or experience to give the right response in different situations or take the right step in a given situation. It is here that the role of NDRF becomes pivotal,� said the DC.
Speaking at the meeting, Rakesh Kumar, Inspector representing NDRF, said his team will stay in the district for six days.
The DC asked the Civil Defence officials that at least 100 of their volunteers should receive training from NDRF so that they may learn how to coordinate and take steps or remedial measures during emergency situations. He said it takes the NDRF team a minimum of six to eight hours to set up a team in emergency situations. During disasters, the victims are in stress and trauma and it is important to deal efficiently in such situations, he said.
The DC said the NDRF team should chalk out a blueprint to assess as to what minimum and basic resources are needed in emergency operations in the district. He said the team should also visit disaster prone areas such as areas of flash floods to find out how to implement prohibition or norms to prevent loss of lives and property in such situations.
The DC further said that mining areas and companies, especially UCIL and HCL also needed to test their resources for their ability to tackle emergency and disaster situations. Safety instruments should also be standardized, he said.
Among others present during the meeting included ADC Sunil Kumar, district crisis management officer Pankaj Kumar, MK Ojha from HCL and GM of UCIL GC Nayak.