Helpage India, a non-government organisation engaged in welfare activities of the elderly, is conducting a series of training sessions on disaster risk reduction for the elderly.
The programme is intended to equip people with necessary skills so as to minimise the impact of damage during disasters.
Helpage India has been organising elderly persons into elderly self-help groups over the last one-and-a-half years under its programme titled ‘Sponsor a grandparent'.
Over 900 ESHGs have already been formed across the country, according to the organisation.
Sixty ESHGs in Kerala are being brought under the training programme which commenced in Ernakulam on January 30.
Training sessions are being organised at many places including Kottayam, Pathanamthitta, Alappuzha, Idukki and Thiruvananthapuram. The sessions will conclude on February 6.
The sessions highlight the preparedness when a hazard strikes.
Preventing or mitigating the hazards, reducing the vulnerability by improving individual survivability, sprucing up community readiness and improving capacity through contingency planning are among the focal points of discussion.
Listing of hazards in villages and other areas where the groups have been formed is also being carried out.
