‘Disaster management plan mandatory for all schools’: BMC

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A senior civic official from the disaster management department said, “There have been several cases of major fire, building collapses, terrorist attacks or even food poisoning in both the country and the world. Most of the times, the first respondents to the incidents, the teachers in this case, are themselves not equipped to handle the situation. This training along with the formation of a specific plan can improve the response to any disaster.”

The workshop undertaken by BMC will include training in identifying hazards, listing safety measures that can be incorporated to combat the situation, a list of emergency numbers, formation of a disaster management committee and a first-aid committee in the school, creating a resource inventory and planning evacuation measures.

“In times of a disaster, schools don’t know how many children are in the premises, the fire safety equipment is not functioning or the first-aid kit has medicines which have expired. We cannot continue to risk lives,” another official involved in the training said. In the first phase, municipal schools will be asked to create the plan, followed by hospitals in the second phase and ward offices and private schools in the third and final phase respectively, an official said.

“At the end of two weeks, the same team that trained the principals will also visit the schools to see to it that they have implemented the plans. We can also take action in case of non-compliance,” the official added.

tanushree.venkatraman@expressindia.com