Media is abuzz with the bravery exhibited by our youth during recent
flooding in Kashmir.
Certainly our youth played a commendable role in
saving life in the recent devastating flood,
though many of them were
not well skilled in the crisis management operations.
Alas!
Some
enthusiastic volunteers even lost their precious lives while operating
rescue and
relief works in the flood hit areas. Had these boys been
trained by the
J&K Disaster Management Authority earlier, they might
have saved more lives, and
reached out to more stranded people in time,
who were crying for help for many long days?
It is unfortunate that
the J&K Disaster Management collapsed at the very first day
and
could not perform at all.
It is highly appreciable that some active
member companies
of the Adventure Tour Operators Association of Kashmir
such as Adventure Call, Kashmir Adventures, Highland Excursions O2
Adventures, Mountain Magic,
and Highland Journeys etc. took the lead.
Besides,
they loaned about 30 imported commercial inflatable rafting
boats to district administration in some districts.
The Tourism
Department also put its fleet of rafts to use.
Later the NDRF and few
NGOs also jumped in by rowing their dinghies to the affected areas.
These inflatable boats were perfect to tackle the running waters,
while
the traditional wooden boats were not effective in fast flowing water.
Unfortunately some causality also occurred in those boats.
Later those
wooden boats helped a ...
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