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| Fire service department personnel display a drill in Bhubaneswar on Tuesday. Picture by Ashwinee Pati |
Bhubaneswar, Feb. 5: A delegation from Germany today witnessed a fire-fighting drill to assess the expertise and technology of the state fire service department.
Senior planning officer, reconstruction and peace, German Development Corporation (GIZ), Wolfgang Garatwa’s visit was part of a modernisation programme undertaken by the government of India for disaster management in the country.
The programme intends to develop co-operation in areas of fire-fighting technology between Germany and India.
Garatwa said he had come to assess the technology available here in disaster management and what could be done to improve it.
A corporation of the German government, GIZ is working in the fields of reconstruction and peace, including disaster management. It has its presence in several countries, including India.
“Today’s demonstrations were of highly professional standards. Whatever technologies are available here are minimum, but there are more technologies available in the world market. Our aim is to develop co-operation between India and Germany in the disaster management sector,” said Garatwa.
He said there is a possibility of an MoU to be signed in this regard between Prime Minister Manmohan Singh and German Chancellor Angela Merkel, when the former visits Germany in April.
An Indian team had visited Germany last year for a first-hand knowledge of the skill, technology and expertise available there.
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