BMC to lay stress on disaster management

After a twelve-year-old girl managed to save 13 of her neighbours with help of basic techniques to fight blaze that she had learnt in school and online, the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation has decided to lay stress on disaster management workshops and sessions for teachers and students.

“The lessons will include tips on how to use fire extinguishers, usage of first aide, casualty carrying, in the absence of a stretcher, and ways of conducting CPR (Cardiopulmonary resuscitation). Following flooding, series of building collapses and fire in the city, the disaster management cell has stressed on the need to conduct workshops on disaster management for students and teachers,” said Mahesh Narvekar, director, disaster management cell.

The BMC disaster management unit already conduct two-day workshops from time to time. “We teach people basic things, like how to react during a disaster situation, how they can use fire extinguishers and first-aid. Besides this, we also teach them CPR. All these things can not only be helpful during a disaster situation but also make the students confident,” said Narvekar.

In 2016, the unit trained 26,857 people on disaster management. This year, the civic body has trained 6,784 people till date.
On Wednesday when the fire broke out, Zen Sadavarte took charge and applied some basic tricks and techniques she had learnt. While most people were clueless about what to do when they got trapped on the upper floors of the building, Zen opened all windows in her flat and alerted her neighbours when she saw smoke entering her house and the corridor. She then quickly dipped cotton balls in water and made masks and asked some of her neighbours to inhale and exhale through those until help came their way.