How does one stay afloat as storm water gushes into the home and the rescue team is nowhere near?
Throwaway plastic bottles of mineral water strung together into a makeshift “jacket” could be more than handy till help arrives on such occasions.
Tips for making bottle jackets and such ingenious and improvised floating devices using locally available materials form part of a video campaign being brought out by the Kerala State Civil Defence Academy through its YouTube channel and propagated through social media platforms and the 6,200-strong civil defence volunteers spread over 125 fire and rescue stations across the State.
“Waiting for rescue teams to emerge with rubber dinghies or boats could be life-threatening in an area getting rapidly flooded. Staying afloat using such improvised devices could be the most feasible option in such a situation. We train the civil defence volunteers on how to make such devices during their training lasting 12 days at the fire station, district and State-level,” said S. Sooraj, District Fire Officer, Civil Defence Academy at Ramavarmapuram in Thrissur.
The video, the third in the campaign to be uploaded on the two-month-old YouTube channel, among other things, shows the ingenious use of empty plastic cans, PVC pipes and even coconuts to make devices and even makeshift rafts that will help people fast getting marooned people to stay afloat till they are rescued.
It also educates about preparing an emergency kit to be kept readied by those in flood or other disaster-prone areas to avoid last-minute scramble in the event an evacuation becomes inevitable. A torch with spare batteries, a bottle of water, dry fruits, a fully charged mobile phone and power bank, a mobile charger, contact numbers of friends and relatives, valuable documents in waterproof pack, a few candles and a lighter, medicines, a pair of dresses and a face mask are among the contents advised to be included in the kit.
“Notwithstanding our limited resources, we are planning to make more such awareness videos and train the civil defence volunteers on improvised techniques to fight disasters,” said Mr. Sooraj.