Aiming to provide immediate help during a disaster like situation across the country, the Centre on Tuesday informed the Lok Sabha that it is focussing on community participation and that a total of 6,000 volunteers under the 'Aapda Mitra' scheme are being trained in 30 flood-prone districts of 25 states and Union Territories (UT).
Union Minister of State for Home Affairs Nityanand Rai informed the Lower House in a written reply, stating that National Disaster Management Authority (NDMA) has implemented the 'Aapda Mitra' scheme on a pilot basis to train the 6,000 community volunteers in disaster response with a focus on flood so that they can respond to the community's immediate needs in the aftermath of a disaster".
The Minister said that 200 volunteers are being trained in each district and that more than 5,500 volunteers have been trained under the pilot scheme.
Besides, the Minister said the National Policy on Disaster Management, while highlighting the role of Community Participation, has emphasized to encourage the efforts of states and Union Territories in this regard.
"It is further mentioned that Community plans will be dovetailed into the Panchayat, Block and District plans."
Based on the success of the pilot scheme, and requests from the states and UTs, the Minister said, the Centre has approved the up-scaling of the Aapda Mitra Scheme, covering 350 districts prone to flood, landslide, cyclone and earthquake to train 1,00,000 community volunteers in disaster response.
Apart from this, the National Disaster Response Force (NDRF) conducts community awareness programmes for the capacity building of community in disaster management, said the Minister, adding NDRF has trained 1,380 community volunteers in disaster management last year.
NDRF is also conducting School Safety Programme (SSP) and imparting basic training to school children as well as teachers to evacuate themselves during an earthquake, he said.
"During 2021, NDRF has conducted 81 SSPs covering 18,057 beneficiaries. To inform, educate and to make the people aware, NDMA runs awareness generation campaigns through electronic and print media, including social media, on various disasters, from time to time," said the Minister.
"These campaigns include Do's and Don'ts, Audio-Visual films, messages containing preparedness before, during and after disaster events."
( With inputs from ANI )
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