The Revenue and Disaster Management Department and the State Disaster Management Authority have joined hands to organise an exhibition and a two-day international work shop on disaster management at the Kanakakkunnu Palace. There are about 50 organisations participating in this exhibition which also includes the Armed Forces, private organisations, international NGOs, Central and State Government departments and agencies and units of public sector undertakings.
As you enter its premises, one would find a few military trucks parked on the left. These are the disaster management vehicles containing all sorts of disaster handling equipment and fire fighting gadgets like the fire extinguisher foam, the fire beater to control flames, ladders to climb buildings on fire, blankets used for wrapping the victims of fire accidents and much more. Officers trained in disaster management stand ready next to these trucks, willing to demonstrate the use of each and every apparatus.
Further you get to see how a building can be constructed without it being affected by natural and industrial disasters. The Habitat Technology Group, dealing with safe constructions, has got a miniature model building made using the techniques of safe construction approved by the United Nations Development Programme placed in front of its stall.
“Vertical bars used at the corners and vertical RCC bands at the jambs of the openings are designed to resist calamities from ruining the structure. This safety measure can also be applied to houses as the construction cost is reasonable,” said Pradeep TS, project engineer at Habitat.
The stalls set up by the Kerala Police and the Bomb Detection Squad are the biggest crowd pullers where you get to see different kinds of metal detectors like the hand-held detector, deep-search detector, underwater minesweeper and letter-bomb detectors. They also have devices like the chemical detector which determines the chemical used in the blast, bomb inhibitor, non-linear junction detector which detects remote-controlled bombs, a remote-operated wire cutter which defuses bomb from a distance of 500 metres and life detector which can trace life beneath debris.
The most interesting bit at the stalls are the bomb handling robot - a remote-controlled robot which can defuse bombs from a distance. Anoop K Ravindran and Jose MV of bomb squads working with the Kochi City Unit are the master minds behind this invention.
Other than this, the exhibition has stalls by the medical team of Thiruvananthapuram Medical College demonstrating steps necessary for basic life support, a stall displaying gadgets used by the National Disaster Response Force during nuclear emergencies, tornados and floods.
The Kerala Fire force flaunts the aluminum-coated silver coloured fire entry suits, water mist fire extinguisher which uses 90 percent water and ten percent foam to extinguish fire on electric posts without turning off the power supply and assuring hundred percent safety to the fire force men and more.
This disaster management exhibition will go on till March 10.