The Greater Chennai Corporation (GCC) plans to train 7,000 Residents Welfare Associations (RWA) members to tackle Northeast monsoon effectively, in case there is a heavy downpour. A preliminary online meeting was hosted on Saturday by Corporation officials to ask interested members of RWAs to register to train for monsoon preparedness.
The training, primarily for residents of apartments and complexes, will cover how to relocate individuals from lower floors to higher floors, accommodate the elderly and sick, distribute and share food, and identify shelters.
“This drill was held by the Commissioner of Revenue Administration and Disaster Management in the previous years for few volunteers, and the same was instructed to be done by the GCC this year. At first, 500 members of RWAs are expected to be given training to handle situations in case of heavy downpour, and they will be called ‘master trainees’. They will, in turn, train more people under them. A total of 7,000 are targeted to be trained before heavy rains set in,” an official said. The ‘master trainees’ would train the other members, and eventually, one person per block is expected to be trained for helping others. “The location and modus operandi, once fixed, will be detailed,” officials added.
