The response team at the training camp in Gaspara

Aug. 1: The memories of the 2003 cyclone and its aftermath, when nearly 40 people died during the intermittent wait for rescue, linger on in the minds of the residents of Dhubri district.

However, the arrival of a National Disaster Response Force team in the district last month has raised hopes of a different scenario in the future.

The team aims at training the residents on rescue operations during natural disaster and provide timely aid.

The people living in the border villages of the district face innumerable hardships during natural calamities because of lack of a rapid response force to provide relief.

The team familiarises itself with an area and goes from village to village getting acquainted with the routes to facilitate quick evacuation, sources added.

The team has been demonstrating measures to minimise damage and loss of life during natural disasters with the help of the residents and gaon panchayat members.

The president of the Gaspara gaon panchayat, Moinul Hoque, said Gaspara is the remotest of all villages located along the border and very close to the Ghewmari BSF outpost.

The lack of medical facilities in and around the village forces the villagers to travel miles to reach the Dharmasala public health centre for medical treatment, particularly during floods.

A member of the gaon panchayat, Mobarak Ali, said it became very difficult to save lives and property during the floods.

“Unabated erosion on the northern bank of the Ghewmari border has already displaced 250 families and they have been living in makeshift shelters for several months now. There is nobody to help us,” Ali said.

“In the city areas, there is at least some mechanism to help the people but here we have to just depend on ourselves,” he said.

“It gives us solace to see that the response team is not only equipped with all sorts of machinery to rescue the victims but can also provide medical aid including life-saving medicines free of cost,” Hoque said.

A large number of villagers gathered at Gaspara recently to witness such a demonstration and agreed to co-operate with the team.

Ali said they would extend all possible help to the team to carry out their rescue and relief operations.

“Villagers have shown extreme enthusiasm and they are attending the programme in large numbers,” said Angoor Das, an NDRF inspector.

Das said demonstrations have been conducted in Howrarpar Senior Secondary High School, New Ghat, Folimari Bazaar and Durahati, Gaspara and Dharmasala last week.

Apart from public awareness programmes, the team has already sent three nurses with medicine to Masala Bari, Saitan Bari and Takamari, which are flood-prone villages of the district.