Accidents, calamities: Youth trained to respond to emergencies

Two-day seminar held for deputy commissioner’s volunteer task force

PESHAWAR: Not many people are aware of the steps that ought to be taken in the event of an emergency. To counter this, a two-day emergency response training was conducted by the district administration on Tuesday and Wednesday to provide useful tips to the youth.

“We do not have enough resources so we decided to mobilise the youth of the district,” AC Altaf Sheikh said on the closing day of the training. “It was for this purpose that we gathered in this hall so that youth could be educated on risk management, hazard assessment, vulnerability of the district and the capacities of human resources.”

While talking to The Express Tribune, Sheikh said he hoped participants would be able to handle any emergency situation effectively after the training. “The most positive aspect of the training was that female participants were more active in all the exercises and mock drills.”

The training — that was specifically organised for the volunteer task force of the deputy commissioner that has 300 youth members — had mostly students who were divided into different groups for exercises.

Aneesa, an organiser of the disaster management training, told The Express Tribune the participants were asked to respond in case of an earthquake, flood or accidents. “They learned how to provide first aid to people who got injured in accidents and calamities.”

Sana Khan, a college student who participated in the training, said it was a great opportunity and she learned a great deal. “I got a chance to practically provide first aid in a mock exercise,” she said. “I hope I’m now able to respond positively [to an emergency situation] instead of fainting [in panic].”

Published in The Express Tribune, August 11^th, 2016.