Rescue operations during natural calamities: In a first, South 24-Pgns forms teams for quick response in coastal dists
Sagar Island: Repeatedly hit by cyclone and other natural disasters, District Emergency Response Team (DERT) have been set up by roping in local youths who are well aware of the terrain in the region to initiate rescue operations at minimum time possible in the coastal district of Bengal.
Six such teams, each comprising 20 youths, have been set up for South 24-Parganas and their activities are going to
be displayed for the first time in the Ganga Sagar Mela that is going to start from January 8.
The teams will be kept deployed at strategic locations round the year in the district and they will rush to any spot receiving an SOS to undertake rescue operation. Being well aware of the local terrain, the well-trained youths— equipped with all sorts of modern equipment and satellite phones —can reach the spot fast. They would set up make-shift air-beam inflated tent and remain stationed till they complete the rescue operations.
A senior officer said: "The twenty youths in each team have been hand-picked based on their performances as civil defence volunteers, Apada Mitra and Disaster Management Volunteers from respective localities".
The youths have undergone training from different elite organisations in the sector including the state government's civil defence wing.
"OfcourseNDRF and SDRF gets involved in rescue and relied operations during any natural calamity. But initial work within the minimum time possible can help saving lives of many. Moreover, now with the climate change something or the other keeps happening round the year affecting pockets of the district in the state's coastal region," the officer said.
South 24-Parganas district, which is spread over 8165.05 square km with more than200 km coastlineand around 138 islands with habitation in most of them, is always exposed to cyclones and state's most vulnerable districtin terms of witnessing destruction due to cyclone. The eight coastal area blocks are Kakdwip, Namkhana, Patharpratima, Mathurapur II,
Sagar, Kultali, Gosaba and
Basanti. The district was worse hit ones in supercycloneAmphan and cyclone Yaas in the recent times.
New integrated control room with live feed from "ground zero" in the coastal areas has been set up along with development of integrated warning mechanism for disseminating alert messages during emergency.
Live feed would be made available from six strategic locations. There would be satellite phones at 10 locations as normal network does not work during natural disaster. Mapping of low-lying areas in the district has also been initiated.
