Our Correspondent
KOHIMA, JANUARY 26
The Nagaland State Disaster Response Force (SDRF) was commissioned on Tuesday coinciding with the national Republic Day celebrations here in the state capital. The SDRF was officially launched by the Governor, PB Acharya.
The SDRF, under the aegis of the state Home department, is set up by the Nagaland State Disaster Management Authority (NSDMA) and will be executed by the Civil Defence & Home Guards (CD&HG).
It was informed during the launch that a squad of 240 personnel were drawn from the CD&HG and have been trained as a special force for response to disasters, and these personnel for the dedicated SDRF would be stationed in eight key location points in the state for responding to disaster, promptly and efficiently.
In the wake of the 6.7 magnitude earthquake which occurred earlier this month shaking the entire northeastern region including Nagaland, the launching of the SDRF comes as a positive stride in building up the state’s preparedness to such calamities.
The Disaster Management Act 2005 has made a statutory provision for constitution of National Disaster Response Force (NDRF) and State Disaster Response Force (SDRF) for the purpose of specialized response to natural and man-made disasters. Accordingly, the Nagaland State Disaster Management Authority (NSDMA) had earlier set up and trained one company each from six Indian Reserve Battalions and eleven District Executive Forces, and the Village Guards of Tuensang. However, as per the NSDMA, the trained SDRF personnel from police could not be utilized on a full-time basis as they are basically on law and order duty.
Therefore, with the objective of having full time dedicated personnel, the NSDMA had screened and drawn the 240 SDRF personnel from the CD&HG and they will be dedicated exclusively for disaster management.
In an event of disaster, the SDRF personnel will be the first line of response for Search & Rescue Operations, however, during normal times, they will be detailed to carry out awareness programmes in villages, schools and colleges. The earlier SDRF trained personnel from IRB/DEF and Village Guard will act as a back-up force during a large scale disaster so as to create a proper order during emergency, it was informed.
A mock drill was demonstrated by the disaster management personnel during the launching of the SDRF on Tuesday.
