Saving lives, promoting safety

Islamabad : Since 1985, International Volunteer Day (IVD) is observed on 5th December to promote volunteerism, encourage governments to support volunteer efforts and recognize volunteer contributions at local, national and international level. The theme of IVD-2020 is “Together We Can through volunteering”. In Pakistan, volunteers are associated with different national and international organizations like Rescue Service 1122, Pakistan Red Crescent, Boy Scouts and Girl Guides Association, UNV and VSO Pakistan etc. Salute to all volunteers who contributed to make their communities more resilient against natural and human induced disasters.

Every Year, one of the best bond of volunteers in association with Rescue Service 1122 is observed in National Community Emergency Response Team(CERT) /Volunteer Challenge held at Emergency Services Academy Lahore. In this competition volunteer teams from across the country are provided with an equal opportunity to exhibit disaster response skills. In this regard, the 4th National CERTs Challenge has been organized at the Academy from 2nd to 4th December 2020. The winner Volunteer team of inter UCs competition participated as district representative volunteer team in the National Challenge. The designated team of evaluators from the Academy evaluated Community Action for Disaster Response Skills (CADRE) Skills of all volunteer teams. This initiative of promoting volunteerism was taken by Director General Rescue Service, Dr Rizwan Naseer in order to mobilize the power of humanity for developing disaster resilience. Moreover, he aimed to transform the communities in Pakistan through an effective and pragmatic involvement of volunteers under Community Safety Program. In order to achieve the objectives for safer communities, over 5000 CERTs were established in all Union Councils of Punjab as per provision of Punjab Emergency Service Act 2006. This helped raise awareness on saving lives and promoting safety amongst 1 million people.

Volunteering means providing services free of cost while keeping in mind, Fee Sabeelillah (In the way of Allah) as its priority. It encourages all professionals like doctors, teachers, lawyers, engineers and experts of different fields to bear this ideology in mind as volunteering aims to create a visible difference for developing healthy safe resilient communities in Pakistan. Since, volunteers are driven by a desire to contribute to the well-being of their society by putting in efforts to promote civic values and social cohesion without an expectation of material reward, concerned organizations like Rescue 1122 must give them the proper right to assist these volunteers with recognition. Across Punjab, rescue stations were declared as Community Rescue Stations to provide CERTs (Rescue Scouts) an opportunity to utilize the rescue infrastructure for voluntary work with Emergency Services in order to transform their communities. These Rescue Scouts are performing their duties in emergency response by raising awareness, imparting training and by conducting safety surveys after getting essential emergency and disaster management trainings from certified rescue trainers. The purpose of these activities is to provide a platform to Rescue Scouts at Government level and to bridge the gap between government and communities as District Emergency Officer of any district is Secretary of District Disaster Management Authority (DDMA) and he can also present the communities issues in District Emergency Board (DEB) meeting which is headed by the concerned Deputy Commissioner of the district, requiring government interventions.

During COVID-19, volunteers assisted Rescue Service for awareness raising and aiding in the distribution of around 50,000 Ration Pack to the deserving families. I would like to acknowledge the support of VSO Pakistan for capacity building of CERTs by providing kits, training of rescue officers on WASH program during COVID-19 and organizing CERTs challenge. Boy Scouts and Girl Guides movement is being revived by Honorable Governor Punjab, Ch Muhammad Sarwar and President Punjab Girl Guides Association, Mrs Parveen Sarwar. It must be noted Pakistan Red Cross also have many volunteers having an international network. All such volunteer forums need to work together and put joint efforts to transform their respective communities for a better livelihood of future generations.

Rescue Service has launched Rescue Cadet Corps (RCC) app to digitalize all volunteer data and provide them with an opportunity for online registration and training. This app would further help in coordination, and deployment of volunteers in case of an emergency. You all can join RCC by registrating as Rescue Scout and get online training on five basic modules of Community Safety Training Course. The successful participants shall be engaged with nearest Community Rescue Stations for hands on practice of life saving skills and further deployment for safety promotion activities. Furthermore, free of cost advance trainings shall also be organized by Rescue Service, in order to gain quick response and increased prevention skills. Congratulations and special appreciation to the top three Winning districts of the CERTS challenge as well as their DEOs, RSOs who worked effortlessly to achieve this recognition. Moreover, a big congratulations to all the hard-working volunteer teams who participated in this challenge, your remarkable efforts cannot be ignored thus, you shall not be discouraged. Remember! Volunteer efforts never get wasted as it develops trust among the society, strong linkages between groups, enhances harmony and limits the distance. I pay rich tribute to all volunteers for their continuous motivation, valuable contribution and for being responsible citizens of their respective communities. Salute to all Volunteers.

— Deeba Shahnaz Akhter

The author is Head of Community Safety & Information, Rescue 1122 Punjab