Shimla: The Disaster Management Authority is organising an Annual Mass Awareness Campaign on Disaster Risk Reduction- ‘Samarth’ on 13th October.
Started in the year 2011, Samarth, a State-wide campaign is carried out at the state, district and community level and a variety of events and activities are organized in the month of October every year for two weeks. State Disaster Management Authority is celebrating 10th edition of Samarth this year starting from second week of October.
A spokesperson of State Disaster Management Authority said that the focus for this year has been on developing content like: news stories, photographs, quiz, videos, social media cards – which will highlight the links between good disaster risk governance and having national and local disaster risk reduction strategies in place, that align with the Sendai Framework for Disaster Risk Reduction.
Authority has decided to use online and digital modes this year to create awareness, build capacities towards promoting disaster resilience in the State. Besides this, as part of this campaign, a table top mock exercise on chemical (Industrial) disasters has been planned on 15th October, 2020 along with National Disaster Management Authority (NDMA) to assess and review the preparedness of all stakeholders to deal with industrial disasters in industrial areas of the State.
As a run up to this exercise, an online training for officers of District Disaster Management Authorities (DDMAs) and Nodal Officers of all Departments has been planned on 12th October, 2020.
He also said that a 3-days Online Training Programme on “Hill Area Environment” will be organized by Disaster Management Authority in coordination with National Institute of Disaster Management (NIDM), GOI from 21 to 23 October 2020. Similarly, one such programme will be organized for traditional construction practices in HP and School Safety.
Disaster Management Authority is also aiming to involve community in promoting disaster resilience. Individuals will be encouraged to be aware of the common hazards around them, prepare their family and community disaster management plans, and equip themselves with essential supplies required to tide through an emergency situation, like: dry ration, drinking water, medicines, torch, radio sets, spare batteries, etc. To familiarize the community with Do’s and Don’ts for the hazards that their regions are prone to, an interesting online quiz to educate the citizens has been prepared and shared electronically with public so that they may test their knowledge about disasters and improve their understanding.
The HPSDMA in its endeavour to create mass awareness is using its website, Twitter, Instagram and Facebook handles, to engage various stakeholders and the common citizens. This awareness will continue for the entire month, with the objective of making Himachal Pradesh a State resilient to disasters.
