Date:28/09/2008 URL: http://www.thehindu.com/2008/09/28/stories/2008092857960100.htm

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Corporation gears up for monsoon

Kannal Achuthan

Various government agencies will work together during an emergency

— Photo: B. Jothi Ramalingam

MOCK DRILL: Firemen demonstrating evacuation procedures at Vyasarpadi in Chennai on Saturday.

CHENNAI: The Chennai Corporation on Saturday put to test its joint action plan with various government agencies for rescue operations in the event of floods during monsoon. The Corporation School at Kalyanapuram in Vyasarpadi, one of the flood-prone areas in the city, was used as a base for a mock rescue operation.

Corporation Commissioner Rajesh Lakhoni said the exercise, a first of its kind in the city, would help various government agencies work together to respond quickly during an emergency.

Representatives of Fire and Rescue Services, Central Industrial Security Force (CISF), Electricity Board, Metropolitan Transport Corporation and Meteorological Department participated in the drill.

The school building was labelled ‘incident command post,’ from where the evacuation and rescue efforts were coordinated.

Firemen scaled up buildings to bring people to safety while the CISF personnel demonstrated equipment that could cut through concrete debris. The local schoolchildren — who were eager to participate in the drill — were ‘rescued’ by firemen using the skylift, a hydraulic ladder mounted on a truck.

Brigadier B.K. Khanna, training specialist from the National Disaster Management Authority (NDMA), said: “Urban flooding is a disaster. Such drills will help the community and government agencies respond faster.”

NDMA member M. Shashidhar Reddy oversaw the emergency response operation.

Desilting of drains

Mayor M. Subramanian said the Corporation had completed the desilting of 462 km of storm water drains. Desilting of 360 km of drains was in progress and the work would be completed before the monsoon, he added.