Bhubaneswar: Reliance Foundation organised a Cyclone Mock Drill and awareness programme at the Kasia Multipurpose Cyclone Shelter in Basudevpur Block of Bhadrak District, on International Day for Disaster Risk Reduction. It was organised with technical guidance of 3rd Battalion NDRF Mundali and Life Line NGO of Basudevpur.
This programme was organized to create awareness and enhance community level preparedness for disaster risk reduction. Community awareness and preparedness plays key role in saving precious lives and livelihoods.
Around 60 community volunteers Aapada Mitras along with cyclone shelter management and maintenance committee members from Sanakrushnapur village participated in this mock drill. Sanakrushnapur village often faces the might of cyclone and is highly vulnerable to Tsunami for being located very close to the coastline.
The Kasia Cyclone Shelter Management and Maintenance Committee appreciated the community awareness and mock drill initiative as the participating community members demonstrated dissemination of early warning advisories, rescue techniques to save the people and developed evacuation routes / maps on how to reach shelters safely etc.
Among various aspects covered during mock drill cum workshop, were identifying the tsunami / cyclone and its vulnerabilities, purpose of the mock drills for community volunteers, early warning dissemination, role of volunteers and first responders during emergency situations, Do’s and don’ts during cyclone, ways to prevent and respond to snake bite, emergency search and rescue techniques like knots and lashing, emergency transportation method – casualty, etc.
Extending technical guidance Inspector Executive Udit Kumar Dixit and constable TP Mondal and S M Swami from 3rd Battalion NDRF, Mundali, Cuttack, participated in the programme as observers.
