TEAM HERALD
PANJIM: The North Goa District Disaster Management authority suffers from certain gaps in its preparedness to face calamities like the South Goa’s DMA which could not respond appropriately when the partially constructed building at Canacona collapse last Saturday. That the chief minister had to spend six hours at the site to personally supervise the operations speaks volumes about the state of preparedness of the administration.
Sources said the disaster management programme has failed to properly implement projects and neither does it have equipment to use during disasters. Also civil defence volunteers exist for name sake and many shy away from active involvement
“There were certain people who were trained to handle situations during crisis, but that was only primary training and there was no follow-up. They are ill-equipped to assist local authorities during emergencies,” said a source.
Meanwhile, the rescue agencies concerned – national disaster response force, police and fire personnel – have been conducting rescue operation since last three days. They have pulled out over two dozen people trapped beneath the debris but some were pronounced dead.
The rescuers had a tough time to reach the completely mangled bodies inside but managed to pull out a couple of them alive as some sounds coming from the debris caught their attention.
The fire personnel, in a rare sight, used electrical breaker to pull out alive a Jharkhand-native Laxman from the ruins. Director of Fire and Emergency Services Ashok Menon, who has also seen at the site since the day of the incident, said it was a dangerous operation. “We are trying our best … the fire fighters successfully saved Laxman by creating a hole using the equipment…”
he said.
