Disaster Management and Covid-19 Committee

The Disaster Management and Covid-19 Committee of Nabon Women’s Synod College was set up on 2nd November, 2021with the following members:-

Mission:
The immediate aim of the settingup of the Disaster Management and Covid-19 Committee is to mitigate the disastrous effects of any natural or man-made disaster. The view is to prevent the loss of life, preventing injury as well as to prevent loss of or damage of the property of the College. The Committee is also set up in order to prepare the teaching staff, the non-teaching staff and the students to be prepared in case a disaster of any kind strikes. Keeping this in view, the Committee is set up in order to train both the staff and the students to be prepared to respond to any disaster in a calm and collected manner so as to prevent unnecessary risks especially that of the precious lives of those in the College.
The Covid-19 Committee as part of The Disaster Management Committee aims at providing an awareness to the students on the signs and symptoms of Covid-19 and stresses theimportance of vaccination.

Vision:
In the long run, the vision of the setting up this committee is to engage the help of the State Disaster Management Centre to train the staff and students in managing any unforeseen disaster in a planned and prepared response. Therefore, the committee has to come up with a plan that will prevent or at least mitigate the loss of lives and property. The College will therefore request the help of the Meghalaya State Disaster Management Committee to train the staff and students in First Aid and emergency response. Mock drills are also a necessary part of this preparedness and readiness in our response. So, this should be enacted at least every 6 months so that we can be prepared to handle any kind of potential hazard such as a fire, an earthquake or a collapse of any part of the College wall or College building. Vulnerable areas of the College should also be identified and the areas identified should be fixed as per the necessary steps. Thus, the main part of the vision is the preparedness of the College as a whole to handle and respond to disaster with a trained, calm and collected response to prevent the loss of life, injury and damage of property etc.
The Covid-19 Committee was set up to prepare the students on how to go about, if infected, as how to practice and observe the period of isolation, to maintain a healthy diet as well a healthy frame of mind and stress on the importance of vaccination.Thus audio recordings weresent to the students through WhatsApp social mediato mitigate their doubts and fears.

Report on Three days Training Programme cum Mock Drill

On the first day, the 8th August, 2022 the programme was formally opened with a welcome speech by Miss C. C. L. Thabah , a member of the committee. Then, Smti. K.War gave a power point presentation on the importance of a Mock Drill, what it is and why and how often it should be conducted.On this day, Shri. S.l.Nongum along with the other instructors gave the students instruction and demonstration on first aid for head, jaw, shoulder,chest,elbow,palm and leg injuries.The students were also taught the proper and correct ways to use bandages for injuries.
On the second day, the 9th August 2022, instruction and demonstration were continued on how to give first aid for fractures by using bandages and splints. The students were also taught how to make bandages, splints and stretchers from any materials possible such as pencils, pens, rulers, belts, dupattas, sticks etc. The instructors chose 15 students and dividedthem into three groups which comprised of the First Aid team, Search & Rescue team and Evacuation team. These students were instructed and trained to play very specific roles in the Mock Drill. Twelve other students and one teacher were also chosen to play the role of the missing and injured trapped in the building.
On the last day, 10th August, 2022, the Mock Drill was conducted at 12:00 PM sharp with the sounding of an alarm bell. As soon as the bell rang we all ' drop, hold and cover' under the benches and tables. After the alarm stopped, we quickly exited the building, down to the playground where all the students were lined up according to their classes for a quick head-count by the teachers. As Incident Commander, my role was to report to our Principal, Mrs. E.C. Blah that we have 12 students and 1 teacher who were missing and were still trapped inside the building. The principal then instructed me to activate the 3 teams to search, evacuate and to give first aid to them. A First Aid Post with the 5 chosen students was set up to care for the injured. The Search and Rescue and Evacuation teams went inside the building and brought out the missing students and one injured teacher by helping them to walk and also by carrying a few in makeshift stretchers to the First Aid Post. This was continued until all the injured had been evacuated and had been given First Aid treatment.
This programme was formally concluded with a thank you speech from the Principal and the presentation of potted plants to each member of the Civil Defence team.