Rules that prevent lives from being saved

It seems that there are rules, regulations and clauses involved even when it comes to saving lives in this country. The disaster management authorities in the country whose sole responsibility is to rescue people who are trapped in building or affected by natural calamities are not supposed to provide aid when it comes to a collapse of an under construction building.

It seems that there are rules, regulations and clauses involved even when it comes to saving lives in this country. The disaster management authorities in the country whose sole responsibility is to rescue people who are trapped in building or affected by natural calamities are not supposed to provide aid when it comes to a collapse of an under construction building.

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Both National Disaster Management Authority and District Disaster Management Authorities (DDMA) are not responsible for helping out in case any under construction structure that collapses.

The authorities do not even have mock drills designed to deal with such a situation. According to senior officials apart from deploying a few civil defence volunteers, they are not supposed to provide any other kind of help.

"We are not responsible to provide any sort of assistance in case an under construction building collapses. Our mock drills are designed for occasion such as earthquake and fire. The mock drills for structural collapse are restricted to buildings that are inhabited by people," said a senior DDMA official on the condition of anonymity, as he is not authorised to speak to the media.

They claim that till a building is complete and in working condition the onus of search and rescue operations lies with the Fire Department and the police.