Mahir Haneef
In Kerala, the term ‘monsoon’ was synonymous for disaster. While Malayalees had to fear only natural disasters before, now they have to worry about industrial hazards also. From a State with plenty of monsoon disasters, we are graduating to a State where disasters can happen anytime.
Inept management of such crises by various departments make matters worse for the victims. Even if the decision makers and superior officers of various departments wanted to pay some attention to disaster management, they won’t be able to do so as almost all of them are ignorant in this respect.
The latest tragedy of school children’s death following collapse of school building roof is a classic example of tragedy caused by red tapism. Local residents had alerted the administration of a possible collapse many days before it happened, but no official turned an eye towards their helpful advice.
In the Munnar landslides just a day before the school tragedy, Chief Minister Oommen chandy requested army help at around two pm on July 26 and they began operations at the tragedy site 13 hours later. An altercation arose between local residents engaged in rescue operations and the army as the latter were armed with shovels and pick axes only. Thus, the army, who arrived many hours after the incident, was no better than the hundreds who voluntarily began the work immediately after that.
When a benzene spill occurred from storage tanks near Vathuruthy last November, fire force had to remain a spectator as they didn’t have the right chemical compound to douse the fire.
In a State like Kerala, where the density of population is very high, it is murderous not to have proper and efficient methods of disaster management. Disaster management committees are formed each time a tragedy occurs, and they remain as organisations only in paper and often as paupers. Experts talk to Action Line on the present scenario of disaster management.
Sam Christy Daniel, Assitant Commissioner of Police
With the help of Kochi Refineries Limited, around hundred police constables were recently given training on how to respond to disasters caused by chemicals. It was the first such class for constables and we realised that they don’t know how to identify the hazardous chemical in a tanker lorry caught in an accident.
The exact identification of the chemical in a lorry would be marked at three places and it is mandatory. The driver of the vehicle will have a TREM (transport emergency) card in which the same details will be recorded. But none of the constables knew this as no such training was received by them.
Officers are also equally ignorant about such things. Some of us, who received awareness classes from National Safety Council, have heard about such things, but don’t possess exact knowledge as to what to do in such hazardous situations. There are no study materials for officers (during training). The only thing we could do upon such an incident was to wait for the fire to burn out itself.
Police and drivers are the first to arrive at hazardous situations and more awareness classes should be conducted regarding this. But we lack resources and funds to conduct a State-level training course.
Mohan Lal, Chief Manager of Learning Centre, Kochi Refineries Limited
The awareness class was conducted for police as they are the first to arrive at a disaster or hazard scene. They are the ones to inform the fire force as to what kind of chemical is involved.
Tanker lorries loaded with hazardous chemicals have symbols showing whether they are flammable, inflammable, corrosive and likewise. But the police constables who came for the training didn’t knew about such symbols. Nor did they knew that the exact technical details such as the name of the chemical would be marked in a TREM card with the driver as well as in three places on the vehicle.
There are fire extinguishers inside tanker lorries carrying hazardous substances, but policemen don’t know how to remove the pin and operate them in the event of a fire. They also don’t have the personal protection equipment necessary to operate in hazardous circumstances. So this course will remain as an awareness course.
As a result, the police cannot inform the fire service on what material to bring to prevent the hazard from becoming a disaster. Passing correct information is the most important factor in the entire process. Otherwise the hazard would develop into a disaster.
EB Prasad, Divisional Officer, Fire Force
The markings on vehicles carrying hazardous substances and the TREM card are statutory as per Motor Vehicles Act of 1989, but the police isn’t aware about that. Even superior officers don’t know about these things. The chances of police informing us about the nature of hazardous substance are very rare.
It is the revenue department which coordinates all rescue services, but even superior officers there don’t know the basics. I realised this when I gave a led an awareness class for revenue department officials. As the police and the public aren’t aware of the basics, we normally won’t know what kind of chemical it is until we reach the spot. Thus, if we run out of any compounds to counter a hazard, another vehicle has to bring it.
Shibu, journalist residing nearby landslide site at Munnar
There were some problems when the rescue work began. All seemed to be in a state of confusion. It took some time for them to overcome this. The fire force couldn’t reach the landslide site at Devikulam as the road was blocked by debris. It was the local residents who took out the victims out of the debris. The army unit arrived from Thiruvananthapuram around 3.00 am on Wednesday. They had only shovels and such equipment with them.
APM Mohammed Haneesh, Ernakulam District Collector
Problems of logistics and communication are common. (Referring to Munnar landslides) The army proceeded to Munnar by land. They should have been air-lifted. Expenditures on such things should be considered a State expenditure.
We have a Crisis Management Group consisting of heads of various departments like electricity, water, panchayats, transport, police and civil supplies. When we find a crisis brewing, tasks to overcome that are identified and assigned to each of the officials. We have chemical, industrial and natural calamities and plans vary according to each of that.
In natural hazards, we adopt warning measures first. Then we move on to evacuation, rehabilitation and supply of food and clothing; followed by an action plan.
