Pune: Around 300 officers and employees from municipal councils across the Pune and Chhatrapati Sambhajinagar divisions recently attended a state-level disaster management training programme in Alandi.The one-day programme was a part of state govt’s efforts to strengthen urban disaster preparedness, officials said. The Alandi Municipal Council (AMC) conducted the workshop following directives from the Maharashtra Directorate of Municipal Administration.Participants were trained to tackle earthquakes, urban and river floods, landslides, building collapses, fires, chemical emergencies, gas leaks, road cave-ins and health risks following floods. The sessions also highlighted disaster risk reduction, climate change impacts, community participation and the role of municipal councils in building disaster-resilient cities, said officials.“The session focused on improving the capacity of urban local bodies to respond to emergencies. Expert trainers led by Dr Vinod Bhardwaj, president of the Organization for Disaster Managers (ODM), conducted technical sessions on disaster preparedness, emergency response, search and rescue, inter-departmental coordination, post-disaster rehabilitation and the use of modern technologies,” AMC chief officer Madhav Khandekar told TOI.
