Will I die, citizens ask disaster mgmt cell staff
ACCORDING TO DISASTER CELL OPERATORS, SEVEN OF 10 CALLS ARE RELATED TO COVID-19
MUMBAI: “Will we die?” “Does Covid-19 spread through air, how will we survive?” These are some of the questions that the staff of the disaster management cell of the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC) has answered, as they attended 13,522 calls from March 6 to March 23.
The disaster management cell, which functions 24x7, is required to co-ordinate between various rescue agencies in order to provide quick and efficient medical services. The calls are related to minor and major mishaps, landslides, fire, water logging, building collapse, house collapse, potholes and bomb blasts.
According to the operators, of late, seven of 10 calls are related to the disease. “Some believe what they read on social media forwards and panic. There are so many myths around the virus. People call saying they have flu-like symptoms. We escalate the call if it appears serious,” said a senior official from the cell.
A majority of calls are to report neighbours who have recently travelled to foreign countries and have ‘home quarantined’ stamp on the back of their palms. “People call saying their neighbours have the stamp and are roaming out freely. We immediately advise them to point it out to society members and advise the family of the traveller to follow home quarantine rules. If the situation escalates, we inform the agencies concerned,” said one of the operators.