The First Responders

Subhashis Mittra

The National Disaster Response Force (NDRF) plans to train over 70,000 people in disaster management by the end of the year. So far more than 13,000 volunteers have been trained by the NDRF.

This was shared by Union minister of state for home affairs, Nityanand Rai, while addressing the NDRF’s 19th Raising Day celebration at the Vigyan Bhawan in New Delhi on January 19. The NDRF was raised this day in 2006 as a multi-skilled stand-alone Disaster Response Force to respond to all natural and man-made disasters. At present, it has a strength of more than 18,000 men and women rescuers deployed across the country as part of 16 battalions and 28 Regional Response Centres (RRCs). The NDRF Academy is located in Nagpur.

It attends to various disasters including collapsed structure search, train accidents and rescue operations during earthquakes and landslides, floods, cyclones, chemical, biological, radiological and nuclear contingencies and medical emergencies, among others. As per official data, the NDRF saved 6,000 lives and evacuated 51,000 people from disaster-hit areas, apart from rescuing 3,000 animals like cattle and dogs during its 900 operations undertaken across the country in 2023.

The minister said the rescue operations during the cyclone Biparjoy in Gujarat and Silkyara Tunnel collapse in Uttarakhand were major achievements of the force last year as no life was lost during the catastrophes. NDRF director general (DG) Atul Karwal said the federal contingency force will soon launch online content in disaster management and community outreach to prepare people better. He said the NDRF has decided to observe 2024 as the year to prepare for an effective response against chemical, biological, radiological and nuclear (CBRN) attacks.

The Union home ministry has already sanctioned the procurement of specialised equipment for the CBRN tasks. The DG asserted that about 97-98 per cent of the NDRF rescuers were ‘absolutely fit’ to take on any challenge given to them. “Two incidents, the 2020 styrene gas leakage in Visakhapatnam and a gas leak in Ludhiana last year have made us decide that we will observe 2024 as the year of CBRN response and preparedness,” he said. The NDRF procured four HAZMAT (hazardous material) vehicles during the recently concluded G20 Summit in the national capital at a total cost of INR 60 crores for tackling CBRN accidents and disasters.

The multi-tonne HAZMAT apparatus has been installed on Bharat Benz trucks and manufactured by defence PSU Bharat Electronics Limited (BEL). Each of these indigenously made vehicles costs about INR 15 crores. These vehicles are used to detect the roots of CBRN attacks, monitor and track them, and can also be used to decontaminate or plug the source of such an outbreak.

Each vehicle is armed with a communication setup via a dish antenna erected on its roof and a GPS, a CBRN shelter and an air filtration and conditioning unit. It can hold six people in an air-tight compartment that can be sealed by a heavy metal gate. These vehicles have night vision devices, and the operators can keep in touch with a control and command centre outside from where