So that our children are safe

The Kumbhakonam school fire has killed 90 schoolchildren. A few years ago, a fire in a Karnal school killed hundreds of students. The Gujara...

The Kumbhakonam school fire has killed 90 schoolchildren. A few years ago, a fire in a Karnal school killed hundreds of students. The Gujarat earthquake killed 70 students who were on an educational excursion from Karnataka.

Nearly eight years ago, two students were killed in a Mumbai school in a stampede on the school8217;s single staircase. In a small town, Ichalkaranji, in Maharashtra, a small earthquake shook the school building. This caused panic among students who rushed down the same stairway. Two girls fell and were crushed under other students. Village students die every year due to lightning. Schools in Assam, Bihar, Tripura get marooned during the monsoon floods and the students suffer, some fatally.

School teachers should be taught lessons in disaster mitigation. Degree and diploma courses in education should have it as a compulsory subject. Japan observes September 1 as National Disaster Mitigation Day. Every one, from the child in school up to the highest executive, participates in mock drills. After the 1999 cyclones on the Andhra coast, it was decided to observe October 30 as National Disaster Mitigation Day. But on such days, the fire brigade or civil defense departments do the drill, followed by speeches by bureaucrats. The children are only mute spectators.

After the Gujarat earthquake, a number of states are considering introducing the subject of disaster mitigation at school level. On the invitation of the Maharashtra State Board of Secondary and Higher Secondary Education at Pune, I delivered lectures in a number of schools.

I found that most of the fires at functions and pandals in schools start due to electrical short circuits. The electrical connection for pandals is invariably taken by inserting the two ends of electrical wires in the plug. Matchsticks are inserted to fix loose wires. During school gatherings, it should be ensured that plug pins are used in electrical connections.

Another hazard is the fan. On an average, 200 persons die due to the falling of ceiling fans in cinema halls, schools, auditoriums every year. Rotating fans are fixed with quarter pins which wear out with extensive use.

The fire at Kumbhakonam started in the kitchen. The distance between the stove and the gas cylinder is usually five to ten centimeters. As per rules, it should be at least one meter.

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Lightning and insect or animal bites take on an average about 1400 lives per year in India. Children should be told not to take shelter under the tallest tree, which is vulnerable to lightning. Teachers and students should be instructed on antidotes and first aid for scorpion, snake and dog bites.

One of the worst dangers is posed by narrow staircases in school buildings. Schools should be told to have separate stairs for going up and coming down. The width of the stair should be a minimum of two meters or more.

The writer works in the field of disaster mitigation