The devastating floods of 2018 and 2019 gave the State authorities many lessons. One of them was to equip tribal youth with necessary skills needed to handle natural calamities, including floods.
As many as 101 tribespeople from different hamlets in the Nilambur forest were among the 4,300 people given training in disaster response in the State as part of a nation-wide programme named Aapda Mitra (meaning friends during disasters).
Special attention was given to train youth from the hamlets of Punchakkolli, Mancheeri, Alakkal, Mundakkadavu, and Nedumkayam in Nilambur forest largely because of their inaccessibility. Reaching those hamlets in times of disasters will not be easy.
The 2018-19 floods had marooned several tribal hamlets in Nilambur and had rendered it quite hard for the authorities to reach out to the tribespeople with relief and emergency goods. Some of the tribal youth selected for disaster response training were living in hamlets more than 10 km inside the forest.
They were trained at the Kerala Forest Research Institute (KFRI) centre and the Fire Station at Nilambur for 12 days. The authorities offered them facility to stay because it involved the risk of facing wild animals while going home each day in the evening.
The 101 tribal youth were among the 500 volunteers who got training in disaster response in Malappuram district. The trained volunteers will provide backup to the State and Central disaster response teams. They will also take lead in disaster response in the absence of the Central and State forces.
Passing out parade
The passing out parade of 500 volunteers took place at MSP Grounds here on Saturday. Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan addressed the parade through videoconferencing. All of them belonged to the age group between 18 and 40 years.
The State Disaster Management Authority offered training to the volunteers with the support of the National Disaster Management Authority.
Officials said that Malappuram had the largest number of volunteers in the State. They were given 12 days’ training in fire safety, disaster mitigation, first aid, water safety, responding to traumas, and wireless communication. They got both theory and practical classes.
District Collector V.R. Premkumar, DySP P. Abdul Basheer, MSP Assistant Commandant M. Ratheesh, Fire Officers C. Baburaj, M. Rajendran, M.P. Pramod, and P. Pradeep addressed the volunteers.
