Daily Times

The Secretary, Punjab Emergency Service (PES), Rescue-1122 Dr Rizwan Naseer on Tuesday visited Murree and reviewed the emergency plan prepared to deal with any emergency during snowfall.

The secretary reviewed all the arrangements finalized for Murree district and checked measures taken to give a quick response in case of any emergency. The District Emergency Officer (DEO) Murree gave a briefing regarding the plan during a meeting held at the District Headquarters, Murree.

Provincial Monitoring Officer, Ayaz Aslam, Head of Information and Community Safety, Diba Shahnaz, Regional Emergency Officer Dr Abdul Rehman, DEO Murree, Engineer Sibghat Ullah, Control Room in-charge and Rescue and Safety Officer Murree also attended the meeting.

Dr Rizwan Naseer on the occasion also observed mock drills by the district staff to deal with emergencies during snowfall. The secretary was informed that the purpose of deploying resources at strategic locations was to respond to blizzard and snow emergencies in a timely and effective manner. District Murree Rescuers and Community Emergency Response Teams actively participated in the exercise. The secretary inspected the deployment of the rescuers and emergency vehicles at 14 strategic emergency points and emergency facility centers established at various locations in Murree.

Addressing the meeting, Dr Naseer directed the DEO Murree that the response of the rescue service related to snow storm or any untoward incident during winter should be prompt and professional. The motorbike rescuers were directed to respond with community emergency response teams from strategic points as snow and traffic jams during winter make it difficult to respond from the rescue stations.

He also ordered the authorities concerned to declare code red across Murree and Rawalpindi during severe winter.

The secretary urged the citizens to use the toll-free emergency number 1122 in case of any emergency as a timely call could help the rescuers to give a quick response.

Dr Rizwan gave 20 additional rescue motorbikes to Murree Rescue-1122 so that a timely response could be given in case of an emergency. He directed the authorities concerned to deploy the rescue motorbikes at strategic locations.

Dr Rizwan said that 13 ambulances, eight fire vehicles, two rescue vehicles, 22 rescue bikes and staff concerned would be on high alert in Murree during the snowfall season.

He warned that negligence on part of the official concerned would not be tolerated.