BENGALURU: Recently, the state government and officials at the Karnataka Disaster Management Authority had a tough time rescuing people from Karnataka who were stranded in war-ravaged Sudan.
The authorities had to depend on the information provided by the stranded people, who had made panic calls to the Authority’s office. The difficult situation would not have arisen and crucial time could have been saved if the authorities had a ready database of people from Karnataka staying overseas, experts and former officials admitted.
“It is not important to know which state has a database and which does not. It is important that Karnataka does not have it. Many from the state travel abroad for jobs, higher studies, business, vacation and stay. Collating data from embassies, the Ministry of External Affairs and other agencies to know how many from Karnataka are where and when is not a herculean task. The challenge in every rescue operation is the long hours spent collecting information about those stranded. That time can instead be utilised in assuring them and chalking out strategies to evacuate them,” said a former senior official who worked with the Authority.
Like in the medical profession, the concept of Golden Hour should be introduced for such rescue operations too, the official added.
Experts agreed that the privacy of individuals should be maintained. But when details are being shared with the embassies and travel agents, what is the harm in sharing them with the authorities? People going abroad should look at it as insurance against any disaster, they said.
“Not that no attempts have been made. But citizens were worried about their personal details getting public. Problems arise when people move from one country to another. Also, the lack of coordination between various agencies is a big issue. We saw this in the case of rescuing those stranded in Sudan. Till the last minute, the Ministry of External Affairs did not share details of Kannadigas. All departments should work together and create a common database, which should be updated every fortnight. It has been discussed, but no one wants to take the lead,” said an official.