Humans are prone to man-made and natural disaster. However, either of the two are inevitable. In the last few years, we have witnessed both natural and man-made disasters. This makes it more important for preparing human beings to face disaster. On these lines, Department of Civil Engineering, Sri Krishna College of Technology (SKCT), joined hands with National Disaster Management Authority of India (NDMA) a central government body under Ministry of Home Affairs and hosted a one-day seminar on ‘Disaster Management’ recently.
A. Ramesh, Principal of the college initiated the programme. Dr. I. Padmanaban Head of the Department of Civil Engineering, faculties and students from different colleges participated in this programme that included a mix of lectures and hands-on training.
G. Arumugam, Training officer – Southern Range, National Disaster Management Authority of India was the resource person for this day-long programme. He educated the students of this institution on various subjects like awareness, self-protection measures, rehabilitation measures, first aids, for major disasters such as earthquakes, tsunamis, floods, fire, lightening, atomic radiations, poison attacks.
Commenting on disasters, he said “Natural disasters occur due to the changing weather conditions and movement of the earth. Natural disasters are inevitable and they impact human beings mentally, physically and economically. The best way to deal with natural disasters is to be ready and prepared to face and overcome them. We have to but accept natural disasters.”
In his opinion, man-made disaster happens because of the mistakes that human beings make. “Some of the disasters happen only due to human mistakes and other reasons like causing damages to nature, man-made environmental problems, and faulty civil constructions among others,” Arumugam said.
Considering the increasing number of man-made and natural disasters that we are witnessing, Arumugam told his audience that our Government has set up committees at the district, state and natural level to create the necessary awareness among public about disaster management. These committees also, on a regular basis host various hands-on training programmes to make the public prepared to face and deal with disaster of any kind.