Himachal youth to be trained to handle disaster: CM

Shimla, Oct 22: Himachal Pradesh Chief Minister Jai Ram Thakur on Tuesday said at least 10 youth would be trained in every gram panchayat to handle mitigation after a natural disaster.

In the first phase, 48,390 youth would be trained to carry out rescue work, and provide first-aid to the victims.

Thakur was speaking at the inauguration ceremony of a two-day regional workshop on "Challenges of Disaster Risk Reduction in Hill Towns" for stakeholders of Uttarakhand, Jammu and Kashmir, Ladakh and Himachal Pradesh, here.

The workshop is being organised by the state disaster management authority and Himachal Pradesh Council for Science Technology and Environment in collaboration with the National Disaster Management Authority.

The Chief Minister said the state disaster management authority did a commendable job last year by rescuing over 4,000 people struck in Chamba, Kullu and Lahaul Spiti districts due to untimely snow under operation 'White Himalaya'.

He said the state has also approved school safety project under which a disaster management plan would be prepared and mock drills would be conducted by the educational institutions.

The government of India has sanctioned one National Disaster Response Battalion for the state and the state is working on setting up its own disaster response force.

The Chief Minister said efforts would be made to build a disaster resilient Himachal by capacity building at all levels for preparedness to mitigate and stop occurrence of disasters.

The active participation of stakeholders besides political and legal commitment, scientific knowledge, warning system and optimum use of technology is required for mitigation of disaster risks.

He said better coordination between the Centre and the state governments is also vital to lessen the risks of disasters.

The state would be considering setting up disaster mitigation fund.

Housing, Urban and Town Country Planning Minister Sarveen Chaudhary felt the need to adopt traditional technologies for construction of houses, particularly in the hilly states.

She urged the public for construction of their buildings as per rules so that losses due to natural calamities could be minimised.

Principal Secretary, Revenue, Onkar Sharma said the National Disaster Management Authority has a vital role to play in the Himalayan states as these states are prone to natural disasters.

He said the maximum stress has to be laid on taking pro active steps to ensure minimum loss to the lives and properties in case of natural calamities.

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