In a first, NDRF trains NYKS volunteers in Bihar, Jharkhand 

The initiative is intended at establishing a mechanism for organized and structured engagement of NYKS by creating Block Level Disaster Response Teams.
Nehru Yuva Kendra Sangathan volunteers during their training programme | EPS
Nehru Yuva Kendra Sangathan volunteers during their training programme | EPS

PATNA: In a first, Bihar's Bihata-stationed 9th Battalion of NDRF has started training volunteers of the Nehru Yuva Kendra Sangathan (NYKS) on disaster management for making 780 Disaster Response Teams(DRTs) both in Bihar and Jharkhand.

In the first phase, 29 volunteers of NYKS of Bhagalpur in Bihar completed their six-day long training on Saturday. The NYKS under Department of Youth Affairs of Government of India has taken up an initiative on preparing Disaster Response Teams (DRTs) in collaboration with NDRF. The initiative is intended at establishing a mechanism for organized and structured engagement of NYKS by creating Block Level Disaster Response Teams (BLDRTs) of volunteers as first responders in selected hazard prone districts.

According to Vijay Sinha, Commandant, 9th Battalion of NDRF and Dr Kumari Jyotsana, State Director NYKS, who addressed the valedictory ceremony of the course, training have made them skilled and equipped with techniques to carry out successful and effective rescue missions during natural disasters times.

Sinha said that such a training programme for volunteers is the need of the hour for community capacity building in the field of disaster management. "Being first responders, trained volunteers work as "force multiplier" particularly when the emergency services are yet to reach in the far-flung affected civil population", he elaborated

Sinha added that as a pilot project, the  NDRF has geared up to train around 780 volunteers of NYKS on disaster management in different 20 batches of Bhagalpur in Bihar and Deoghar of Jharkhand.  "After completing training,all the volunteers as friends of NDRF would be able to respond promptly in case of any emergency", he said. 

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