TIRUVANANTHAPURAM : The Kerala Institute of Local Administration (KILA) has come out with a 30-minute instructional video on the dos and don’ts for the flood-displaced returning home from relief camps. Titled Nadorukkam Nalekkay (Bracing for Tomorrow), the demonstration-cum-training video — brought out with support from the Health and Local Self- Government Departments — comprises six sections mainly pertaining to cleaning up the houses/premises and caution against the outbreak of communicable diseases among others.
“With the focus now shifting to rehabilitation, messages on cleanliness are running thick and fast on social media platforms. By coming out with a video of this kind we aim to streamline the awareness messages and present them in a simple way. We plan to reach out to the affected through platforms like WhatsApp, Facebook, Twitter and websites,” said KILA director Joy Elamon.
The video starts with the things to bear in mind while entering the house post-floods. In the second session, issues like house cleaning and well water chlorination have been dealt with. The third and fourth sections focus on cleaning up the premises and the awareness on diseases (waterborne, airborne and vector-borne) which the flood victims are prone to. The final two sections deal with the measures to be adopted to check possible outbreak of diseases and the role to be played by the local bodies in such a scenario.
Disaster warning
“The video also contains messages from UN disaster response expert Muralee Thummarukudy; Ministers K K Shailaja and A C Moideen; ADHS (Public Health) Reena K J, Suchitwa Mission executive director Ajay Kumar Varma and others,” said a Health Department officer.
According to Muralee Thummarukudy, if the local bodies fail to ensure scientific disposal of solid waste, then a second disaster is waiting to happen.
The video which warns against use of sodium polyacrylate for the removal of silt also pitches for affirmative action from the departments concerned for timely removal of waste.