Ahmedabad was hit by a massive earthquake in the morning of 26th January 2001. It was a national holiday and most people were either hoisting the flag at school or work or relaxing on their day off.
Cordaid had collected a sizeable donation and planned to do some institution building in the state that could respond to emergencies. ICET was to carry out the training and Holmatro was to supply all the training and rescue equipment. A train the trainer program was set up and for the first time, orthopedic doctors (as India did not have first responders service), traffic police and fire & rescue services personnel trained together and understood their protocols in times of emergency.
I attended the command and control workshop and now possess a dated certificate for the same.
During this time I was already active with Road Safety work and understood the relevance of the training the men underwent in Europe.
In our search to locate rescue teams we stumbled upon Lifeline Foundation and became active participants of the trust and the Highway Rescue Project. I am the chairperson of the trusts’ advisory board.