The New Indian Express, Express News Service, Vellore : With a ten - fold
increase in the number of natural disasters in the country in the past 4 decades, there is need to understand disaster management. According to MK Varma, the Second Commandent of the National Disaster Response Force (NDRF), the National Disaster Management Authority is training more and more personnel to be prepared to deal with natural disasters.Speaking at the inauguration of an exhibition held at NDRF’s wing at the Central Industrial Security Force (CISF) in Arakkonam on the occasion of the National Disaster day, Varma said that
such disasters had increased due to global warming, increase in population and deforestation. He said that the location of the country is such that 57 per cent of the land area is prone to earthquakes with 12 per cent of this area falling under the danger zone, 68 per cent of land is prone to drought, while 12 per cent is prone to floods. Varma noted that 5,700 km out of 7,516 km of the nation’s coast is cyclone-prone. Ten Disaster Management Task Forces were formed in the country. Following this, the 4th battalion of the CISF has been changed to National Force at Arakkonam in 2005. As many as 45 persons belonging to 18 teams are present here. Of them, 35 personnel would be involved in rescue services, while the remaining are physicians and engineers. The personnel will be trained in four categories including Medical First Responder (MFR), Collapsed Structure Search and Rescue (CSSR), Chemical Biological Radiological Nuclear Emergency Respondent (CBRN) and Flood Rescue (FR). Source: The New Indian Express
