Community Response Network

Community Response Network -101

September 12, 2022

 Community Response Network101

September 12,2022

Introduction to CRN 101:

Objectives:-

Community Response Network (CRN 101) is a simple course designed to give a student a basic understanding of disaster management and how government systems work in general.

The objective of CRN 101 course is to educate and create awareness about various government systems involved in the mitigation of disaster management. It covers a brief introduction to various government systems and how these systems coordinate together at times of disasters.

THE DIFFERENT GOVERNMENT SYSTEM AND THEIR INTERCONNECTION:

The local self government :

The topics discussed were:

•Tiers of panchayat system which included divisions in rural and urban areas.

•Health systems which included Health care infrastructure and department under health systems. 

•Revenue System which contains 3 levels District, Taluk and Panchayat level. 

•Law Enforcement and Women in Police.

•The 3-tier panchayat system

RURAL AREAS:

The ward members from various Wards report to a Panchayat Committee. The Panchayat committee also has appointed members along with the elected members. The Panchayat Committee has a President (Elected Member) and Secretary (government appointed member) and various standing committees (e.g.: Standing Committee on health, welfare, finance).

URBAN AREAS:

The Municipalities (Municipals Councils/Nagar Palinka /Nagar Palinka Parishad) and Corporations (Municipal Corporations) are the local government in India that administer urban areas with a population of more than 25 thousand and more than 10 lakhs respectively. Some states in India have City Councils (Nagar-Panchayat) as an additional division. The area administered by a municipality or corporation is divided into territorial constituencies known as wards. Members are elected to the wards committee on the basis of adult franchise for a term of five years. These members are known as councilors. The number of wards is determined by the population of the city.

HEALTH SYSTEM:

The public-health care system in India is based on a three-tiered health-care system to provide preventive and curative health care in rural and urban areas. It consists of sub-centres, primary health centres and community health centres.

REVENUE SYSTEM:

In pre-independent India, there was one person who was in charge of collecting tax revenues from the public. This person was the “Collector” in the “Revenue” Department. The District Collector heads the revenue system within a district in addition to many other administrative responsibilities including that of the District Magistrate.

The constitution of India delegates the maintenance of law and order primarily to the states and territories. All senior officers in the state police forces and federal agencies are members of the Indian Police Service (IPS). They are appointed by the Cabinet from the Indian Police Service. Further down the hierarchy are the officers of the rank of Inspector General of Police. The districts are headed by District Police Chiefs who are usually in the rank of Superintendent of Police. There are exceptions in the police districts of Thiruvananthapuram city and Kochi city where the heads are of the rank of Inspector General of Police and the police district of Kozhikode which is headed by an officer of the rank of Deputy Inspector General of Police.

COORDINATION OF THESE SYSTEMS IN DIFFERENT LEVELS

THE RESPONSE TO COVID -19 

Treatment of a covid-19 patient:

•First Principle: Separating COVID and Non COVID by creating a parallel COVID Healthcare System & utilizing existing Healthcare system for Non COVID patients A clear demarcation between a non-COVID Patient and a COVID Patient has to be made.

•Second Principle: Decentralization of the existing system to the panchayat and ward level We cannot build hospitals overnight and thus have to protect the existing healthcare system from crashing due to an overload of patients. This is done by decentralizing the treatment through a three-tier system under the direct supervision of the district administration. Activation of three tier covid health care system.

The Municipalities (Municipals Councils/Nagar Palinka /Nagar Palinka Parishad) and Corporations (Municipal Corporations) are the local government in India that administer urban areas with a population of more than 25 thousand and more than 10 lakhs respectively. Some states in India have City Councils (Nagar-Panchayat) as an additional division. The area administered by a municipality or corporation is divided into territorial constituencies known as wards. Members are elected to the wards committee on the basis of adult franchise for a term of five years. These members are known as councilors. The number of wards is determined by the population of the city.

Vaccine:

A vaccine is a biological preparation that provides active acquired immunity to a particular infectious disease. A vaccine typically contains an agent that resembles a disease-causing microorganism and is often made from weakened or killed forms of the microbe, its toxins, or one of its surface proteins. The agent stimulates the body's immune system to recognize the agent as a threat, destroy it, and to further recognize and destroy any of the microorganisms associated with that agent that it may encounter in the future.

COVID-19 Infection:

COVID-19 infection is most commonly associated with symptoms like fever, dry cough and lethargy/ tiredness. Other symptoms include ache/pain, sore throat, nasal congestion, conjunctivitis, loss of taste or smell, headache , breathing difficulties and diarrhoea in some patients. Anyone can be infected with COVID-19 irrespective of age or sex or religion or nationality.The elderly and people with underlying health conditions such as diabetes, lung/heart problems, high blood pressure or cancer are at higher risk of developing more symptoms and worsening. These are called co-morbid conditions, the presence of these will make an individual more susceptible to get infected by the virus. But that does not rule out the possibility of the younger population getting infected. Anyone who develops breathing difficulty/chest pain or loss of speech or movement should be considered as a severe case of infection.

GENERAL GUIDELINES:

General Advice:

•Always wear a mask in public places.

Limit your movement. The lesser people you interact closely with, the less likely you and the people around you are to being sick.

•Encourage repeated hand washing. Carry a hand sanitizer and use it wherever soap and water are not available. Wash your hands as soon as you get home. Wash your hands or sanitize before you touch your eye, nose or mouth.

•Maintain social distancing. Limit contact even while running errands. For example, at the grocery store, do not touch the items unnecessarily. Maintain 1-meter distance from anyone and avoided touching common surfaces like cash counter etc.

•Respiratory hygiene and cough etiquettes must be observed by all.

Cover your mouth and nose with a tissue or your sleeve (not your hands) when you cough or sneeze.

Establish a system to ensure proper disposal of masks/tissue papers.

Proper usage and disposal of masks: During the initial phase, WHO warned us that the common populace using masks could potentially lead to danger. But when the virus started to spread, it has become a norm for the society to be trained on how to use a mask. Now, wearing a mask is a necessity. It helps in decreasing the spread of the disease. While we sneeze, we need to cover our mouth and nose. If someone who is a carrier of the virus sneezes, it could act as a vector and go unnoticed as he or she is asymptomatic. We need to wear a mask to prevent the spread of the virus occurring due to our daily activities and it must be worn properly. The major problem we see nowadays is that people tend to forget the importance of wearing masks and pull their masks away from the nose and mouth. Careless touching of the outer side of the mask should also be avoided.

Proper disposal of used masks and PPE kits:

If it is a cloth mask, boiled water can be used to clean the mask. Surgical masks or N95 masks are not recommended because they are to be used by medical personnel, wherein burning the mask is one way of disposing it. N95 is recommended for aerosols or people who are in contact with those tested positive for COVID-19.

We can only ensure proper waste management if everyone does their part. If we touch an area that people frequently use, we need to wash our hands properly since the probability of getting the disease by touching our eyes and mouth increases. If we are wearing gloves, need to be extremely careful since we need to dispose of it after each use. So the best practice is the use of hand sanitizer.