Trained volunteers, professional forces' cooperation needed

Damage to lives and properties due to disasters such as fires and building collapses can be significantly reduced if trained volunteers work with professional forces, speakers said yesterday at an experience-sharing meeting in the capital.  
GIZ, a German development cooperation organisation, organised the meeting at its office.
Earlier in October, a total of 20 representatives from the Fire Service and Civil Defence, Department of Disaster Management, Bangladesh Garment Manufacturers and Exporters Association, Bangladesh Knitwear Manufacturers and Exporters Association, and Ministry of Home Affairs participated in a two-week study tour in Germany on risk management.  
At the meeting, the representatives shared their experience gained from the tour organised under the Global Initiative Disaster Risk Management Project.
The organisers said Germany has launched the project in seven disaster-prone Asian countries including Bangladesh.
In Bangladesh, the project aims to promote fire safety through providing training aid and sharing knowledge.
Addressing the meeting, German Ambassador Dr Albrecht Conze said his government would continue with its efforts in ensuring fire safety in Bangladesh's garment industry.
Disaster management is successful when it reduces causalities in a disaster. So to reduce the causalities, volunteers have to work with professional forces, he added.
A fire service official, Zihadul Islam, said in Germany around 1.3 million trained volunteers work alongside the fire fighters.
Stephan Huppertz, regional coordinator of the project, among others, spoke.