LETS JOIN HANDS TO BUILD SAFER COMMUNITIES IN PUNJAB:DG RESCUE

Lahore: The Punjab Emergency Services Director General, Dr. Rizwan Naseer said that Rescue 1122 was working to build socially responsible; healthy, safer and resilient communities in the province through Community Based Disaster Risk Management (CBDRM) & Community Emergency Response Teams (CERTs). He said that Rescue 1122 in close coordination with National Disaster Management Authority & National Institute for Disaster Management (NIDM) has devised a comprehensive program for the prevention of emergencies at community level.

Dr. Rizwan Naseer was speaking at the closing ceremony of a weeklong CBDRM training workshop for emergency officers and rescue and safety officers from various tehsils of the Punjab at Emergency Services Academy.

The programme aims to reduce vulnerabilities and to strengthen people’s capacity to enhance their practical skills of hazard identification, assessment, learning & implementation of early warning systems, and to cope with various disasters risks at community level. “The direct involvement of the community members in undertaking local level risk reduction measurement is integral for the establishment of safer communities,” the Director General further said. He said the core objective of the training was to initiate, formalize and develop community emergency response teams to ensure that a trained human resource was available to mitigate disasters.

Dr. Rizwan Naseer said that Rescue 1122 and the NDMA have planned to implement the programme at grassroots so that communities in Punjab may play active role during disasters.

He further said that training dealt with risk and hazard assessment, vulnerability assessment and capacity development; formation of disaster risk management plans at the community level, community based multi-hazard early warning and dissemination mechanisms, school evacuation plans and a community evacuation plan. He further urged rescue safety officers to transfer these skills at the community level to raise awareness on engagement. The NDMA & NIDM representatives including Brig. (reted) Sajid Naeem; Capt. Asif Iqbal (r) and NIDM Capacity Building Specialists Waseem Ahmed and Head of Community Safety Wing Ms Roqiya Bano Javed had organized this training session. The CBDRM course has been organized by the NDMA and Rescue 1122 for capacity building of the Emergency Officers and Rescue & Safety Officer for implementation of this program in all Tehsils of Punjab.