Country’s first dedicated disaster force in the offing: NDMA

Islamabad: National Disaster Response Force (NDRF) is in the offing to specifically tackle and deal with the catastrophic situations arising across the country in addition to the other departments and agencies being called out by the government.

National Disaster Management Authority (NDMA) was working out on a plan to raise this properly equipped and trained dedicated force for effective response in case of national calamities, NDMA Chairman Lieutenant General Omar Mahmood Hayat said this in a workshop held on the role of media in preparedness.

He said this exclusive force, on the pattern of Rescue 1122, would comprise some 200 highly trained personnel to reduce disaster risk and ensure swift reaction to the emergencies everywhere in the country.

The NDRF would be first developed at federal level while in the next phase teams in all four provinces would be raised and trained. Currently there was no dedicated aviation that could be employed only for rescue operations during catastrophes and there was additional burden on the resources of the Armed forces that were being called to respond to any emergency in the country, he added.

This skilled force would be provided with the State-of-the-art disaster dealing equipment and paraphernalia to engage in any emergent situation in the disaster prone country, Omer informed.

At present, Pakistan has reached the point where it has developed vast knowledge of disaster management either natural or man-made disaster it has always employed all possible means and resources to amicably deal with the situation.

It is pertinent to mention that India had 12 Battalions serving as NDRF which has aptly responded in serious disasters while there was no such force in Pakistan to exclusively deal with the emerging situations.