Organisation : National Disaster Management Authority
Scheme Name : Aapda Mitra Scheme For Training Volunteers
Applicable States/ UTs : All Over India
Home Page : http://www.ndma.gov.in/
Details Here : ndma.gov.in/en/ongoing-programmes/aapda-mitra.html
NDMA Aapda Mitra Scheme
1. The undersigned is directed to inform that the National Disaster Management Authority (NDMA) has approved a centrally sponsored scheme focussed on training 6000 community volunteers in disaster response in 30 most flood prone districts (200 volunteers per district) of 25 States of India details of the identified districts falling under the scheme.
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The districts have been identified taking into account occurrence of floods in the past. The State Governments may accept these identified districts or in their opinion if they find some other district more flood prone and vulnerable, they may indicate their preference, citing reasons.
2. The said scheme aims to provide the community volunteers with the skills that they would need to respond to their community’s immediate needs in the aftermath of a disaster thereby enabling them to undertake basic relief and rescue tasks during emergency situations such as floods, flash-floods and urban flooding.
3. Under the scheme, standardised training modules will be developed at the national level and training institutions will be identified at the state level which will impart training to the selected volunteers from the project districts.
4. The Scheme Document outlining the objectives, targets, outcomes, methodology, implementation strategy and role of stakeholders is enclosed.
5. The document on standard operating procedure for implementation of the scheme at the State/District level is enclosed.
6. The draft Memorandum of Understanding between NDMA and Project State /SDMA.
7. The Project States/State Disaster Management Authorities (SDMAs) are requested to send the proposal to NDMA indicating their interest in rolling out the scheme in the identified districts within 10 days of the receipt of notification of the said scheme.
Need/Rationale for the Scheme
(a) In case of any disaster or emergency, before any government machinery & support reaches or outside help gets galvanized, it is the Community which has to respond immediately.
As the Community plays the role of First Responder, it is critical that there is adequate awareness and preparedness at the Community level especially amongst people residing in the most vulnerable areas of the country.
(b) When a disaster happens, volunteers from the affected community are normally the first to act. The impact of volunteers in disaster response can be tremendous, as the extent of damage – in terms of economic and human loss – is greatly influenced by the initial response to a disaster.
Therefore, there lies a critical need to train these volunteers in certain basic skills in disaster management so that they are able to respond in an informed and prompt manner as well as assist the concerned agencies in rescue and relief operations.
Over the years, the National Disaster Response Force (NDRF), State Disaster Response Forces (SDRF) and other State responders have successfully contributed towards saving of lives and securing of assets in disaster situations in India.
In a similar manner, it would be important to train the volunteers drawn from Civil Defence, Home Guards, Youths and members of the communities etc. so that they are able to assist the community in effective disaster response.
(c) Floods have been a recurrent phenomenon in India and cause huge losses to lives, properties, livelihood systems, infrastructure and public utilities. India’s high risk and vulnerability is highlighted by the fact that 40 million hectares out of a geographical area of 329 million hectares is prone to floods.
On an average every year, 75 lakh hectares of land is affected,1600 lives are lost and the damage caused to crops, houses and public utilities is Rs. 1805 Crores due to floods( National DM Guidelines on Management of Floods 2008).
The frequency of major floods is more than once in five years. We are also witnessing trends of areas getting inundated with Floods which are not considered to be flood prone on account of unpredictable weather and climate change phenomena.
The devastation caused by floods in recent years like the Mumbai Deluge -2005, Kosi Mega Flood-2008 in Bihar, Uttarakhand Flashfloods 2013, Jammu Kashmir Floods -2014 and Chennai Floods -2015 highlight the critical need of strengthening local community capacity for response to minimize loss of precious lives.
(d) The said NDMA scheme is to provide the community volunteers with the basic skills that they will need to respond to their community’s immediate needs in the aftermath of a disaster ( with a focus on flood).
These trained volunteers can assist in saving lives using the basic techniques of disaster response, coordination and management.
Objectives
i. To train able-bodied community volunteers in disaster response (flood relief and rescue) at the taluka/block level in each of the project districts. These trained volunteers will be called as Aapda Mitra.
ii. To develop standardized training modules for the set of trainings under the scheme
iii. To train the volunteers in life saving skills of disaster response, coordination and assistance, and provide personal protective equipment and emergency responder kit.
iv. To create a Community Emergency Stockpile/Reserve at the district/block level containing essential light search and rescue equipments, medical first aid kits, etc.
v. To disseminate training and education tools developed under the project to more number of flood prone districts in subsequent phases of the scheme