Panchayat in Kannur launches volunteer disaster response force

The Chengalayi grama panchayat in Kannur has launched ‘Sajjam’, a volunteer disaster response force, drawing lessons from the 2018 and 2019 floods and the devastating Wayanad landslides.

The initiative aims to ensure rapid rescue operations, reduce casualties, and strengthen community preparedness. The panchayat has also launched a comprehensive safety literacy campaign aimed at becoming Kerala’s first “fully safety-literate panchayat” by December 31, 2026.

The 2018 and 2019 floods forced the evacuation of nearly 1,500 families in the panchayat. The programme seeks to equip over 90% of residents with life-saving skills, disaster response knowledge, and accident prevention awareness through a phased, community-wide campaign.

The panchayat has constituted a 100-member volunteer disaster response force, comprising five volunteers from each of its 20 wards. Selected through a public campaign on social media, the volunteers received specialised training from the Fire and Rescue Services and operate through three clusters— Chengalayi, Chuzhali, and Valakkai— to ensure a rapid response.

“We do not want people to remain helpless spectators during emergencies. The idea was to create a trained volunteer force capable of responding immediately. That led to the launch of Sajjam,” said panchayat president B.P. Vipin.

Panchayat vice-president K.K. Ravi said the initiative goes beyond flood preparedness. “Every resident should know how to respond to emergencies, where immediate intervention can save lives,” he added. The panchayat has already prepared a Disaster Management Master Plan following the severe floods that affected the region.

The first phase of the campaign will train more than 3,000 students in 14 schools. Each school has appointed a teacher as coordinator and a student leader to assist in implementing the programme. Fire and Rescue Services officials will also conduct classroom demonstrations. The programme will then be extended to autorickshaw drivers with each training cluster covering about 50 households to ensure that at least one member of every family acquires essential emergency response skills.

The panchayat is also conducting household surveys through its 268 neighbourhood groups to identify knowledge gaps before organising field-level classes. It has allocated ₹3 lakh for the initiative, including ₹1 lakh for the volunteer force and ₹2 lakh for safety literacy activities and training equipment. The volunteers will also identify hazard-prone locations to help prevent disasters before they occur. Officials said the initiative could become a model for all local bodies in Kerala by integrating disaster preparedness with community-wide safety education.