Since 2011, the Fire Service and Civil Defence, leading rescue agency in Bangladesh, have trained up 32,000 people so that they can work as volunteers if a big earthquake hits.
Talking to a number of trainees mainly from the capital city, the Dhaka Tribune has found that the trainings dealt mainly with post-earthquake activities. Apart from some verbal instructions, the trainees are given very little to learn about what to do during earthquakes.
When the aftershocks of the 6.7-magnitude Manipur tremor hit Bangladesh in the early hours of January 4, Bashori Jannat, 27, a resident of Dhaka’s Banasree, was fast asleep.
She took the fire service training in 2013 and hence should know exactly what to do in such a situation like this.
“The first thing to do was stand near or under a strong part of the building such as pillars, beams or take shelter under a table and take a pillow to save the head. Running down the stairs out of panic is not advised,” Bashori said.
“The next thing to do is try and find out the situation my family members are in and ask them to do these things to save themselves,” she said.
But in reality, when the earthquake jolted the country, she grabbed her little girl and came running down the stairs from her second-floor apartment. She stood in front of the building for 20 minutes after the quake passed and so could do very little to help the other members of her family.
“I was scared to death and just did what the other people were doing instead of what I learned during training lessons.
“Actually, it is not my fault. I started panicking and could not hold my nerves as soon as I heard the people around me screaming out of fear,” Bashori said.
Experts say, what differentiates an earthquake with any other natural disaster is the extreme panic factor. So, there is no point in training up people to help or save others if they cannot save themselves.
Imran Ali, a student of political science at Dhaka’s Jagannath University, took the training recently.
When the earthquake hit on January 4, he did literally nothing – he did not even get down from the bed.
“I woke up after the tremor began. But I did not move from the bed. I knew nothing was going to happen. Eventually, I was proved right,” Imran said.
The Fire Service and Civil Defence (FSCD) usually trains up the members of an organisation at a time. Some of these recent trainings were arranged at the Jagannath University and SM Hall of Dhaka University.
Such a training is usually of two days in length and comprises two lessons: one on what to do during an earthquake and second, and most important, what to do after an earthquake.
Md Akram Hossain, a deputy assistant director of FSCD, said it is every hard to arrange a real-earthquake-like situation for a training drill. However, they give councelling to the trainee volunteers on the first day of the training so that they can hold on to their nerves.
He also said that they concentrate more on the activities that follows an earthquake. They teach the trainees to use the various rescue tools – how to using saws, cutting tools, fork lifts, oxygen masks, etc.
Asked why are these trainee volunteers panicking, DAD Akram said: “It is true that they had been given training. But because they have not been able to practice what they have learned, they failed to work accordingly when an earthquake hit.”
Akram, who is also the focus person of the fire service, said: “We are aware of such cases. That is why we have plans to repeat the training drills for those who had already taken part in the lessons. This will give them the much needed practice on how to handle a real earthquake situation.”
Prof Syed Humayun Akhter, head of the Geology Department at Dhaka University, said the entire system of the training was wrong.
“If the trainees cannot save themselves then how would you expect them to save others?”
He has several suggestions on redesigning the training module.
“The trainers should create some artificial tremors to give the trainees idea about what happens during an earthquake. They can also show the trainees animated movies or video clips.”
Prof Humayun said that the media also could have a crucial role to play in these.
“When the media will broadcast the training videos repeatedly, there will be discussions among families. In that way, there will be much needed sharing of knowledge among common people.”
DAD Akram said they were including some of these components for the retraining programme they are planning.
FSCD’s Tk160 crore training programme on earthquake preparedness is being funded under the government’s Centre for Disaster Management Programme (CDMP).