Lessons in disaster preparedness
I had never held a fire extinguisher before. This was going to be fun,” thought Shivani Singh, a Class 9 student and member of the Interact Club of Deep Global School, Tarapur. The red cylinder felt heavier than she expected. Following the instructor’s guidance, she aimed the nozzle at the base of a controlled fire and pressed the lever. A burst of foam shot out, smothering the flames. “I felt like a Marvel Avenger,” she says. When she turned around, she realised nearly 150 students were watching in silence. “That’s when it sank in — this wasn’t just another school event. This was us learning how to save lives in an emergency. We were all becoming real-life Avengers,” she smiles.
“This sense of preparedness and purpose was exactly what our club had aimed to instil when we organised RYPEN 2025 (Rotary Youth Programme for Enrichment),” says Dr Parag Kulkarni, project chair and member of RC Boisar Tarapur, RID 3141.
Held at the Tarapur Industries Manufacturers Association Hall (TIMA) in Palghar, Maharashtra, the event brought together students from 14 schools to learn essential life-saving skills. “Unlike previous RYPEN events focused on leadership, this year’s theme was disaster preparedness. The students had expected lectures, but instead, they faced real-life emergency scenarios where every second counted,” he says.
Tarapur is no ordinary town, explains Kulkarni. “With four atomic power reactors and over a thousand industries, it has a history of hazardous incidents. Nestled between Palghar and Dahanu, the ‘sleeping towns’ as the locals call them, with its high-risk nuclear facilities, Tarapur is always on alert. The question wasn’t whether an emergency could happen, but whether the students were prepared when it does.”
Sandhya Shahapure, who coordinated the event, adds: “Emergencies don’t discriminate by age, gender or community. Disasters can strike anywhere — school, home or public spaces. Training students early helps ingrain life-saving skills, making them more resilient. While teaching the general public disaster preparedness can be challenging, students are in a structured environment, making it easier to engage them and ensure effective training.”
Led by Kulkarni and club president Vilas Shahpure, the event was carefully structured to provide hands-on training in critical life-saving skills. The first session focused on firefighting, where the Tarapur Fire Brigade Team, led by PB Patil, demonstrated how to extinguish fires, prevent burns and escape from smoke-filled buildings.
Next, students learned rescue operations from K R Kurkute, Deputy Controller of Palghar and a President’s Award winner, along with Nilesh S Vaze, a Divisional Field Officer from the Civil Defence Corps. Students were trained in water rescues, high-rise evacuation and stopping excessive bleeding. “A group of students were surprised when they realised how simple it was to turn a shirt into a makeshift stretcher,” says Kulkarni.
In the final session on medical emergency response, Kulkarni himself guided students through CPR, first aid and wound dressing procedures. Vaibhav Piyush Malik, a Class 9 student from Chinmaya Vidyalaya who practiced CPR on a dummy, says, “I thought only doctors could do this. But now I know how to save a life too.”
The event was made possible through CSR support from IPCA Laboratories, Bhageria Industries and Mohini Organics, with a budget of ₹50,000. The club provided meals for the attendees.
