Fire Safety in Bangalore

Wed Aug 4 01:04:10 2004

Dear All,

How safe are Bangalore Schools?

All of us have been shocked and saddened by the death of more than 90 school children in Kumbakonam, Tamil Nadu. Such images of abject grief,of victims, of largely avoidable man-made disasters, occur repeatedly in India and are soon forgotten till the next incident jolts public memory again. The tragedy in Tamil Nadu occurred mainly due to the unsafe structure of the school, blocking off the only escape route of the children and due to "instructions" by the teachers to the students no tto move from their places, whereas their response should have been to evacuate the children immediately and avoid the tragedy.It is a distressing fact that most schools in our country are built with minimum concern for safety and teachers are not trained on basic life saving procedures to be followed in case of emergencies. While the Tamil Nadu tragedy is still poignant in our minds, there is anurgent need to appraise how safe our schools in Bangalore are? A Dialogue with all concerned organizations, Government departments, Educational Institutions, Public and students to try and enumerate theessentials of handling emergencies is greatly needed.

In that direction, we invite you to a discussion on 'Fire safety in Bangalore Schools' on the 7th of August 2004 at 2.30pm at Ashirwad, St Marks Road, Bangalore

Some of the issues we would discuss and try to answer are:

* Press for an audit of Bangalore schools in terms of their firesafety equipments and infrastructure. Are the provisions of the NationalBuilding Code being followed in the construction of schools andcolleges?

* What is the safety training provided to teachers and are theybeing followed? Are they adequate?

* Is there a need to enforce safety training / drill in schools asa part of curriculum (as in the case of Environment Science)?

* Is there preparedness in terms of a disaster management planbeing available in such instances?

Many other such vital questions are bound to come up in the course ofthe discussion and hope to be answered by the participating authorities.We intend to solicit participation from the Bangalore Fire Department,Bangalore Mahanagare Pallike, Schools, parents and NGO's. We also intendto furnish the outcomes of the meeting to the concerned authorities andcompel them to enforce the essentials.

We request you to join us in this "Fire safety in Schools Campaign" to encourage participation by schools, civil society organisations, placesof worship, local businesses, Corporate, unions, sports teams, healthagencies, senior citizens groups, the media - everyone who shares acommitment to the prevention of fire related disasters. Please respond at the earliest at the above mentioned address toindicate your willingness to participate.

Bhargavi S Rao
Associate Coordinator

RSVP:Harminder Kaur
Campaign Supporter
Environment Support Group (R)
S-3, Rajashree Apartments
18/57, 1st Main, SRK Gardens
Bannerghatta Road, Jayanagar
Bangalore 560041 INDIA
Tel: 91-80-26341977/26531339/26534364
Fax: 91-80-26341977
Emaill: esg@bgl.vsnl.net.in
Web: www.esgindia.org

ESG is a not for profit public interest research, training and advocacyinitiative responding to social and environmental justice issues.Donations to ESG are exempt from Income Tax per Sec. 80 (G) of theIncome Tax Act of India.