The government has decided to procure modern equipment soon at a cost of Tk. 170 crore to beef up its disaster preparedness and ensure that rescue operations
at times of natural and manmade calamities are not hampered.
This need has been felt for a long time, but has become an imperative following the collapse of Rana Plaza at Savar and the potential threats posed by earthquakes in and around Bangladesh.
Apart from procurement of equipment, the preparations for rescue operations include training of 62,000 volunteers to beef up existing civil defence and fire services personnel and those from the armed forces of the country, highly placed sources said. Of them, 18,000 have already been trained.
The government does not have enough equipment in its inventory to deal with large-scale disasters, such as earthquakes of the magnitude of 7 on the Richter scale. Such a tremor may flatten most high-rise buildings in the capital Dhaka and the major cities, experts warned.
The decision to procure new equipment was hastened following the building collapse at Savar on April 24, which has claimed about 1,100 lives and left more than 2,500 others wounded. The victims were all workers of garment factories housed in the eight-storey building which was built on marshy land. Its construction, too, was shoddy.
According to the department of disaster management, the government had procured some modern equipment, costing around Tk. 600 million, in 2010, under the Comprehensive Disaster Management Programme (CDMP) and the department of disaster management for carrying out rescue operations in case any disaster strikes Bangladesh.
“Procurement of equipment is a continuous process. We have already solicited the opinions of experts like Jamilur Reza Chowdhury and experts from Bangladesh University of Engineering and Technology (BUET) on the types of equipment required for rescue operations. We will procure more equipment in accordance with their suggestions,” relief and disaster management minister Abul Hassan Mahmood Ali told The Independent.
He said, “We still need some more equipment to ensure our preparedness for conducting rescue operations during any disaster. We are planning to purchase such equipment soon at a cost of Tk. 170 crore. A proposal has been prepared and sent to the Prime Minister’s Office (PMO) and the Executive Committee of National Economic Council (ECNEC) for approval. We will start the procurement process as soon as we get the approval.”
“We have a plan to sit down with those who were engaged in rescue operations in Savar to assess the operations there. We will take notes from the Savar rescuers for strengthening future rescue operations,” the minister said. Ali said the government has chalked out plans to train 62,000 volunteers for rescue operations. Of them, 18,000 volunteers have already been trained. According to sources, the heavy equipment which will be procured for rescue operations include life locators, two cranes (30 tonnes), 25 heavy hydraulic vibrators, 50 light hydraulic vibrators, two excavators with attachments, two forklifts, two dump trucks, 10 search vision cameras, 25 air compressor machines, 100 hydraulic jacks, 100 hydraulic spreaders, 100 hydraulic cutters, 100 hydraulic ram jacks, 100 chipping hammers, 100 rotary hammer drills, 100 rotary rescue saws/slab cutters, 100 reciprocating saws, 100 power chain saws, 100 electric drills, 100 generators, 200 bolt cutters, 200 chisels, 200 pry bars, 200 craw bars, 200 tin snips, 200 hand saws, 200 shovels, 100 pipe squeezers, 200 inflatable stretchers, 100 extension ladders and 50 smoke ejectors.
Earlier, the ministry of disaster management and relief procured a total of 18,150 light rescue equipment at a cost of Tk. 69 crore and handed those over to the armed forces division, fire services and civil defence and the city corporations. The light equipment included rotary rescue saw/slab cutter, reciprocating saw (electrically operated), rotary hammer drill (electrically operated), wood circular saw (electrically operated), chain saw, generator (portable: 1,000 watts), generator (portable: 5,000 watts), chipping hammer, hydraulic ram jack (with hydraulic power unit), spreader (with hydraulic power unit) and cutter (with hydraulic power unit). “We don’t have the necessary equipment for rescuing victims while conducting operations during disasters in the country. If the government takes necessary steps in this regard, casualties or deaths can be reduced in the aftermath of disasters,” said Mohammad Abdul Wazed, director general (DG) of the department of disaster management in the ministry of disaster management and relief.
He added, “We have handed over the equipment to agencies like the Armed Forces Division (AFD), fire services and civil defence, city corporations and the Coast Guard. The personnel of the agencies have also been trained to properly operate the equipment during disasters.”
According to experts, an earthquake measuring 7.5 on the Richter scale at the Madhupur fault, just 150 km or so from the capital Dhaka, can cause massive economic losses to the city, estimated at a mind-boggling USD 6.1 billion, which is some 50 per cent of the country’s annual national budget.
Experts warned that since the Madhupur fault is active, it might wreak havoc at any point of time. Md. Ekram Ali, director of the Geological Survey Bangladesh (GSB) said, “The geological fault line in Madhupur has been activated by the great Bengal earthquake of 1885. Tangail, Mymensingh and Dhaka sit on the Madhupur fault.”
-With The Independent input
