IE: Disaster management lessons for Malabar Hill residents: December 17, 2008

Disaster management lessons for Malabar Hill residents

Keeping in mind the fact that disasters can take place anywhere, the fire department, the disaster management cell of the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC), along with the local police, imparted essential lessons on disaster management to the residents of Malabar Hill on Monday evening.

The need of the hour is self-preparedness, let us be ready for any kind of disaster. Let us educate ourselves and others to reduce the loss of lives and damage to property in the face of any sort of calamity man-made or otherwise, said Dr Tilotima Mangeshikar, an anaesthesiologist from Bombay Hospital, one of the survivors of the siege at the Taj Mahal Palace and Tower-Hotel.

Today, battle is not fought in the fields, it can even target our homes. It is important that we are aware of the basic first-aid rules and are able to save lives even before the experts have come to the spot, said Dr Mangeshikar. She also emphasised on the need for emergency medical services. Instead of becoming mute spectators, it is important that people engage themselves and become a vital link in imparting essential techniques like early CPR, Defibrillation etc. Everyone should be given basic training in these techniques for they are truly live-saving, said Mangeshikar.

Pointing out the rising number of fire accidents in the city, joint chief fire officer, P D Kargupikkar said most of the high-rises flout almost all fire safety norms. Several fire-safety norms are openly flouted. In most high-rises the escape routes have been used for installing superficial things. Hand-pumps and sprinkler systems too are not working. Fire alarms, extinguishers, wires are missing from most high-rises, said Kargupikkar. Adding, We have made it compulsory that all the high-rises can have fire safety norms by spending only a minimum of Rs 70,000 on them. But even then most buildings choose to spend their money on lesser important things, said Kargupikkar. The experts also stressed on the need to make character/ history verification of domestic helps mandatory. The disaster management cell of the BMC also assured of extending its help in this regard. We need to face disaster in a synchronised manner. We will train volunteers at the local level to handle any situation. The first few seconds during any disaster are most crucial. At that time, however, most experts are on their way to the spot. The key to any successful disaster management plan is to take action in the first few minutes, said joint municipal commissioner (Disaster), S S Shinde.

Understanding the importance of micro-managing certain aspects of disaster management, the residents welcomed the need to take necessary steps. We will sit with the fire officials to discuss fire safety norms and draft a fire audit, said Malabar Hill Residents Association secretary, Indrani Malkani.

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