19 December 2008

VIP visits to disaster sites should end’

Special Correspondent
Bangalore: Participants at the national seminar on man-made disasters, organised by the Directorate of Home Guards, Civil Defence, Fire and Emergency Services, here on Thursday, expressed a serious view of the constant visits by the Chief Minister, Home Minister and other VIPs to disaster-hit places, which obstructed relief operations.
Director of Sri Jayadeva Institute of Cardiology C.N. Manjunath, who gave a presentation on medical emergencies and mass casualty management, said VIPs obstructed relief work and providing urgent medical attention to the injured persons.
Waste of time
Dr. Manjunath said such visitors, accompanied by their entourage, would attract all attention till they left the place, as doctors and police officials would be engaged in explaining the situation to them, wasting precious time.
Air Vice Marshal T.P. Madhusudhanan, Principal Medical Officer, Headquarters, Training Command (IAF) also expressed similar opinion. Home Minister V.S.Acharya, a doctor himself, went a step further and said that VIP visits to such sites should be banned.
The Minister said he was criticised by the media when he wanted to implement it after the recent incidents at churches in the city and elsewhere.
Church visits
Dr. Acharya said that Chief Minister B.S. Yeddyurappa and himself visited some churches and returned without any publicity.
Earlier, M. Madan Gopal, Secretary, Health and Family Welfare Services; Devi Shetty of Narayana Hrudayalaya and Nandakumar Jayaram of Columbia Asia Group of Hospitals spoke.

Depts must function in sync

DH News Service,Bangalore:
The police, fire force, armed forces and doctors should work together and be prepared to handle any kind of extreme situations, Home Minister V S Acharya said here on Thursday.

India is prone to natural disasters, but the consequences of man made disasters can be handled in a more systematic way, Acharya said, at a national seminar here on “Man Made Disasters: Medical Emergencies and Mass Casualty Management”, organised by the Directorates of Home Guards, Civil Defence, Fire and Emergency Services and Bangalore University. Health and Family Welfare Services Secretary M Madan Gopal made a presentation on “Arogya Kavacha 108” a 24-hour emergency response service launched recently. Madan Gopal said that Karnataka had nearly 65,000 doctors, which is the highest in the country. Full confidenceIndia, which is the second largest populated country in the world, has experience of handling numbers when it comes to casualties, but needs more manpower to handle unforeseen incidents with full confidence, he felt. Chairman of Narayana Hrudayalaya, Dr Devi Shetty spoke about his health city venture, which currently had over 3,000 beds, ready to handle any disaster crisis. Dr Shetty said, “We are planning to add more beds to handle any kind of situations and plan to have at least 5,000 beds in the future.” On potential terror attacks on medical facilities, he said his hospital has a plan to treat patients outside the hospital with all medical facilities if such threats arose. Director of Jayadeva Institute of Cardiology Dr C N Manjunath spoke on certain basic medical aids and practices a lay person must know while handling a person who suffer a heart attack. ‘Make laws optional’“Whenever there is an accident on the road, people fear to help the victim as they do not want to be called as witnesses. Such laws must be made optional to save people’s lives on the road,” he said and added, whenever there was an emergency and mass casualties were shifted, the traffic had to be managed to save precious time of the victims. When Dr Manjunath said that visiting of VVIPs to the hospitals must be restricted during such crisis, the Home Minister immediately stood up and quipped that VVIPs visits must be banned.DGP, Fire Services, Jija M Harisingh and Deputy IGP Nisar U were present on the occasion.

15 December 2008

Rally, mock drill mark National Disaster Reduction Day


Checking preparedness: Home Guards and Fire and Emergency Services personnel conducting a mock rescue drill on the occasion of the National Disaster Reduction Day in Dharwad on Sunday.

DHARWAD: The National Disaster Reduction Day was observed on Sunday by organising an awareness rally and a mock drill on handling fire accident on the RLS High School ground here. The Dharwad district Home Guards and the Fire and Emergency Services Department had jointly organised the programme. The rally on creating awareness on precautionary measures to be initiated during a natural calamity or a fire accident began from the office of the Deputy Commissioner and concluded at the RLS High School. The participants, including women Home Guards, held placards and banners with messages highlighting steps to be taken during natural calamities and man-made disasters. Pamphlets explaining steps to be taken during disasters/accidents were distributed to the public. After the rally Home Guards and Fire and Emergency Services personnel conducted a mock drill on how to handle a fire accident. The personnel “saved” many persons who were stuck in a structure that had caught fire and also put off the fire, as part of the drill.

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Fire forces demonstrate their damage-control skills in Bidar

The demonstration was held to observe National Day for Disaster Reduction Mock rescue operations were performed by the fire force personnel
BIDAR: As part of observing National Day for Disaster Reduction, personnel of Fire and Emergency Services, Bidar, on Sunday held a mock demonstration of damage-control skills used in times of natural and manmade disasters. The demonstration was held on Bidar Institute of Medical Sciences(BIMS) premises and was attended by a large number of people. It was held to create awareness among people on steps needed to be taken in emergency situations. Fire force personnel showed the use of two-rope parallel method, chain-knot method, single-rope method, two-point suspension method, and hinge-ladder method and administration of first-aid during rescue operations. Home Guards, Bidar, Commandant Mahammed Naimuddin told The Hindu here on Sunday that the mock demonstration programme was arranged on directions from Home Guards, Bangalore, Commandant, Jija Madavan Harisingh. He said that manmade disasters were happening day after day and the prevailing situation needed awareness on handling these disasters effectively. Secretary of Shaheen Educational Institution, Bidar, Abdul Qadeer said, “I have asked students of the institution to observe the demonstration to have knowledge on handling emergency situations.” A visitor, Mallikarjun, said he was thrilled by the demonstration of skills by the fire force personnel. Additional Superintendent of Police G. M. Yatanoor; BIMS director B.O. Hanumanthappa; and officials of the Karnataka State Reserve Police, Bidar, and District Armed Reserve Police were present. The fire force personnel took out a rally from the Police Parade Grounds to BIMS in the city. Mr. Yatanoor flagged off the rally.

Opening of Shahapur Fire Station

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Opening of Channapatna Fire Station

From Prajavani dated 14-12-2008
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08 December 2008

Huts destroyed

BANGALORE: Around 15 huts were destroyed in a fire that broke out near J.C. Road here on Saturday.
According to officials of the Department of Fire and Emergency Services, the fire broke out on 2nd Cross, J.C. Road around 4.10 p.m. in Kalasipalya police station limits.
Eight fire tenders were rushed to the spot to douse the fire.

03 December 2008