Training to manage hill disasters

A three-week long training on hill disaster rescue is being held in Nainital. The purpose of this training is to familiarise the personnel of local administration and other volunteers since region is prone to natural disasters and also apprise them of the difficult and rigid terrain. Volunteers of the National Service Scheme (NSS) and other volunteers from the region are participating in the training programme. "The geographical structure of Uttarakhand is such that if we want to live in Uttarakhand, we will have to live with disasters. So, if some causality happens, you can help the people by saving their lives before the administration comes for help," said Vikas Gupta, chief instructor at the workshop. The participant trainees are taught rock climbing, communication, knowledge about first aid, river crossing, navigation and rappling. The instructor claimed that such trainings would build their confidence and will power.

"After doing such training programmes, their decision-making becomes strong, their leadership quality becomes strong; their confidence level also rises. It also develops their will power along with their decision-making power," Gupta added. The participants are determined to learn all the skills, as they feel that they would be well equipped to save lives in case of any eventuality.

"The knowledge about such things is not very common in the people of the hills. We are being told all these things to promote them in our village to deal with the natural disasters," said Kuldeep Singh Vohra, a trainee. The state government organises such training programmes from time to time, to make people aware of such rescue and disaster management operations.