The Ministry of Disaster Management and Relief and the Department of Disaster Management are facing an acute shortage of sufficient equipment to operate a speedy rescue drive at the Savar building collapse site.
Due to lack of more modern rescue machines, the relevant authorities have undertaken rapid actions to purchase those.
According to the department of disaster management, it has already submitted a plan to purchase heavy rescue equipment at a cost of Tk1.6bn for smooth rescue operation during any disaster.
The project is now in the planning ministry. It will be tabled to the Executive Committee of National Economic Council (ECNEC) within a short time for its approval.
Mohammad Abdul Wazed, Director General (DG) of Department of Disaster Management told the Dhaka Tribune last week: “We have a major shortage of necessary modern equipment to conduct rescue operation during any disaster.”
If the government approves the proposal and takes necessary steps for purchase, that will be a great help to face the post-disaster period, added the DG.
The procurement process of heavy machines will begin after getting approval from ECNEC, he continued.
According to the department of disaster management, it has proposed to buy some heavy equipment, including a sensitive device named “coloured varifocal camera,” which is normally used to identify people trapped in rubble.
Other equipment that proposed for procurement in the next phase are: two cranes (30 tonnes), 25 heavy hydraulic vibrators, 50 light hydraulic vibrators, two excavators with attachment, two fork lifts, two dump trucks, 10 search vision cameras, 25 air compressor machines, 100 hydraulic jacks, 100 hydraulic spreaders, 100 hydraulic cutters, 100 hydraulic ram jack, 100 chipping hammers, 100 rotary hammer drills, 100 rotary rescue saws/slab cutters, 100 reciprocating saws, 100 power chain saws, 100 electric drills, 100 generators, 200 bolt cutters, 200 chisels, 200 pry bars, 200 craw bars, 200 tin snips, 200 hand saws, 200 shovels, 100 pipe squeezers, 200 inflatable stretchers, 100 extension ladders and 50 smoke ejectors.
Mohammed Abdul Wazed said: “We still need some modern equipment including the CDC camera, a human-sensitive device to identify trapped people in the collapsed building. We could not import the device along with other tools in our concluded project as the budget was reduced from the main proposal.”
Earlier in 2010, the Ministry of Disaster Management and Relief purchased a total of 18,150 light rescue equipment at a cost of Tk600m and handed over those to the Armed Forces Division, Fire Service and Civil Defence, city corporations and coastguards.
The light equipment purchased included: rotary rescue saw/slab cutter, reciprocating saw (run by electricity), rotary hammer drill (run by electricity), wood circular saw (run by electricity), chain saw, generator (portable) 1000 watt, generator (portable) 5000watt chipping hammer, hydraulic ram jack, spreader and cutter.
Monday 6 May 2013
http://dhakatribune.com/bangladesh/2013/may/06/disaster-ministry-facing-shortage-rescue-equipment
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