As part of the National Disaster Management Programme, the Tamil Nadu Fire and Rescue Services Department on Saturday conducted an emergency evacuation drill at the P.S.G.R Krishnammal Girls Higher Secondary School.
The drill was part of a nationwide directive to conduct such drills in schools to sensitise the teaching staff, non-teaching staff and students on the ways and means to mitigate disasters and its consequences. It was conducted in the presence of school principal Sasi Radha and Divisional Fire and Rescue Services Officer N. Subramanian.
In an emergency, be it man-made or natural, people tend to panic and the fear will paralyse the mind and could lead to more casualties. Hence, keeping the people prepared in terms of the know-how to escape as well as save others is a must, said Mr. Subramanian. The objective of the national evacuation drill was born out of that, he said. A fire cracker was fired and the same was visualised as a bomb explosion.
The students and teaching staff along with non-teaching staff took the designated routes i.e., exit points to reach safety. The students and staff divided themselves into rescue teams, first aid teams and swung into action.
Rescue teams removed the injured to the first aid team.
The Fire and Rescue Service officials also demonstrated the use of Simon Snorkel which has a hydraulic 160 ft ladder, portable scaling ladder, debris and concrete breaker and iron, stone and wood cutter that form part of the Emergency Rescue Tenders. The operations were carried out by a team led by Additional Divisional Fire Officer Krishnamurthy, and Station Fire Officers Murugan, Annadurai, Mohammed Doulath and Nandakumar.
The use of hydraulic spreader used for removing the mangled portions of vehicles in collisions was also demonstrated to the students.
