A REPORT OF DISASTER MANAGEMENT TRAINING ON 12/5/2015;13/05/2015

48 volunteers of the NSS UNIT IN GHS KAMBALLUR from the northern most district were on the capital this week on a unique mission on their own expense. Along with the escorting  teachers and two parents,they have undergone orientation training in disaster management by the institute of LAND AND DISASTER MANAGEMENT ,GOVT,OF KERALA held in Thiruvananthapuram on 12th and 13 th of May 2015.

             The training in DISASTER MANAGEMENT for National Service Scheme volunteers in a higher secondary school in Kerala has been the first of its kind ever conducted in the ILDM though various kinds of promotion linked training  programmes and emergency preparedness training programmes are being conducted here for different batches of govt officers.The programme was sanctioned as a result of continuous requests from the programme officer of the nss unit of GHSS KAMBALLUR (14002) .The teachers from Ghss Kamballur pointed out that Disaster Management has  been introduced in the new text in English for higher secondary students recently but the scope and gravity of the topic has not been brought effectively to the teachers or the student communiy.The text seemed to give undue importance to singluar heroic activities without explaining how common man could save lives in an unexpected situation.This is one  reason why the students and teachers should participate in similiar training programmes which would give them the required exposure to understand the content.
   The training with free accomodation,food but no TA was given in five different sessions stretching for 2 days.There were sessions in Road safety,first aid ,disaster preparedness including mockdrills,fire and safety and managing chemical hazards.The students and teachers found the classes which were handled by experts faculties like Prathapan,  highly useful ,interesting and motivating.The training  centered on the important aspects of disaster management like prevention,mitigation,preparedness and formation of local management committees.Mockdrills and displays using IT materials added to the content of the programme.

The tagged trees in the campus, the butterfly park and the display of messages underlining the importance of living in harmony with Nature taught the volunteers many a lesson in the management of disasters as they roamed around the campus in the brief intermissions.Disasters are found to create extensive damages  mainly because the ecosystems are severely affected as a direct result of careless human interventions.Hence proper disaster management means protecting eco systems and that is  how the topic comes under the purview of National Service Scheme units and Bhoomithrasena clubs in our schools


The news of the recurrence of the earthquake in Nepal reached the trainees on the afternoon of the first day training (12/5/2015) which further highlighted the significance of the programme.Lives can be saved if people,especially the youth and the teenagers are given proper orientation in disaster mangement as it was evident from the various drills and discussion points in these classes.If a sufficiently long strong coir strand is available ,two teeenagers can easily uplift a man fallen in a deep well.The trainers warned that even a slight mistake could be fatal to the injured man,while taking the injured people in a road accident to hospital.  Most critical situations like an LPG tanker on fire demand immediate evacuation and expert intervention,but what we witness is the presence of unskilled onlookers crowding around the site,often disobeying the instructions by the rescue personnel .Underlining this fact ,when one of the participants from GHSS Kamballur pointed out in a review meeting that district wise training programmes should be given to all higher secondary students,the director was pleased to accept the suggestion and pointed out that such a training programme could be inaugurated in  the district of Kasargod itself.The District Coordinator of the higher secondary national service scheme in Kasargod ,Sureshkumar.A.V has welcomed the suggestion through a whatsup message commenting that it is an honour to the district and that he is proud of the achievements of the nss unit in GHSS KAMBALLUR.