GUWAHATI, June 13 - The 1st National Disaster Response Force (NDRF) located in Guwahati is organising a week-long disaster response and management training programme for railway personnel. Altogether 23 railway personnel are taking part in the training, which got under way today and will conclude on June 18.
Railway personnel of different ranks and structures from the commercial, signal, electrical, engineering, RPF and medical sections of Rangia Division are being given training under the supervision of SK Sastri, officiating commandant of NDRF.
The training is aimed at enhancing the trainees� knowledge in disaster response and management. The subjects, which are being covered in the training are, medical first responder, basic life support, search and rescue techniques, lifting and moving the patient from disaster site, etc.
The specialist disaster response training being imparted to produce department-wise trainers, is based on the international search and rescue guidelines to bring a uniformity in the work culture of rescuers across the globe.
These standard guidelines elaborate on the basic universal safety of rescuers while responding, safety of bystanders, efficient and effective employment of human and material resources without time consumption.
Sri Sastri said, �Reducing losses through disaster response training initiatives targeted at developing expert and accountable disaster responders is our top priority for disaster risk reduction with integrated development milestones in disaster management.�
He further said, �Disaster risk reduction training is neither luxury nor waste of efforts, rather it�s an essential insurance system for more disaster-prone areas. It is one of the smartest, most cost-effective investments we can make in our common future among all threatened societies. The benefits of this investment will be calculated not only in rupees saved, but most importantly, in saved lives.�
It is worth mentioning that the 1st National Disaster Response Force has so far trained two thousand SDRF personnel of Arunachal Pradesh, Mizoram, Nagaland, Meghalaya, Tripura and Assam.
The community awareness programmes conducted by this unit have benefited more than five lakh people, youths, children, members of NGOs and various other agencies. The NDRF has also organised several disaster response capacity building programmes for more than 25,500 stakeholders and students of various schools and colleges of the north-eastern states.
