Civil Defence: State-of-the-art training promised for volunteers

They played an active role in polio, dengue campaigns, says DCO.

LAHORE:

“We will provide civil defence volunteers with state-of-the-art disaster response training to prepare them for any unforeseen incidents,” Civil Defence District Officer Mazhar Ahmad told The Express Tribune on Saturday.

He said it was important to train volunteers to deal with modern day security issues, especially terrorism. The volunteers will be given physical, security and bomb disposal training for three months.

Ahmad said he had requested the district administration for funds at a ceremony held in connection with the International Civil Defence Day. He said they wanted to recruit more volunteers. Ahmad said the district administration had promised to provide them 500 uniforms.

District Coordination Officer Ahmed Javed Qazi addressed the ceremony held at Nasser Bagh. He appreciated the services of the Civil Defence Department. Qazi said the volunteers were tremendously active in several campaigns in the city. He said the women civil defence volunteers had played a very important role as the frontline for polio, dengue and anti-encroachment campaigns. Qazi said Civil Defence was important and the volunteers were being trained to cope with any untoward situation. An awareness rally was held from Nasser Bagh to Town Hall. It was led by the district coordination officer and hundreds of volunteers participated. Stalls carrying fire safety equipment were also set up at the Town Hall in connection with the day.

Coordination District Officer Waseema Umar, Public Rrelations Officer Imran Maqbool, Col Mubassir Javed Director, Civil Defence District Officer Mazhar Ahmed, Civil Defence Deputy District Officer Qari Alam Sher along with several other city government officials were present at the occasion. Several citizens participated as well.

Published in The Express Tribune, March 2^nd, 2014.