Rescue 1122 conducts Flood Preparedness Exercise at Jehlum River

Lahore: Upon directions of the Director General Punjab Emergency Service (Rescue 1122) Brig. (R) Dr. Arshad Zia the Punjab Emergency Service Rescue 1122 conducted Flood Preparedness Exercise at Bela Pulli, Jhelum River to check preparedness level response strategy and further enhance the operational compatibility of Rescue 1122 teams. This purposeful flood exercise shall improve the coordination between the seven districts i.e. Jhelum, Rawalpindi, Sialkot, Hafizabad, M.B Din, Gujranwala and Gujrat.

The scenario included that the water level has raised up to 3 lac cusec in river Jhelum which inundated a number of settlements and urban area. Rescue 1122 teams of District Jhelum were immediately deployed after issuance of flood warning and additional help from District M.B Din, Gujranwala and Gujrat is required to carry out flood rescue operation. District Emergency Officer Jhelum generated call for assistance from nearby districts through Provincial Monitoring Cell PMC Lahore Punjab, so that the resources may be made compatible with that of the challenge. Incident Command Post (ICP) was established to ensure unified command and optimum coordination.

Earlier, the Director General Rescue 1122 Brig. (R) Dr. Arshad Zia reviewed all arrangements and briefed all District officers to ensure swift and prompt emergency response by following Standard Operating Procedures (SOPs) so that flood rescue operation could be successfully managed to minimize the damage without any loss of life.

Rescue 1122 Jhelum under supervision of District Emergency Officer Jhelum responded to the vulnerable areas and started evacuation with three rescue teams and four boats. Meanwhile, additional resources from Gujranwala, Gujrat, M.B Din, Hafizabad, Sialkot and Rawalpindi also arrived at the site. The medical camp at site was established to provide emergency medical care to the victims, whereas experts in psycho social camp provided psychological first aid to the mentally disturbed survivors. Furthermore, Internally Displaced People (IDPs) were facilitated with onsite registration camp for effective coordination with their families and Government agencies for compensations and timely relief process.

The Director General Brig (R) Dr. Arshad monitored exercise and discuss in detail the expected shortfalls in real emergency. He also said we have 2882 trained Community Emergency Response Teams in Punjab so those teams must be timely coordinated and utilized in any real untoward emergency. He further congratulated to all rescuers, community participants and government stakeholders for their high spirits to conduct real scenario based flood preparedness exercise and appreciated District Emergency Officers of participating districts for their participation to make the exercise successful.