Saving lives, promoting safety
January 3, 2021
Islamabad : Since 1985, International Volunteer Day (IVD) is observed on 5th December to promote volunteerism, encourage governments to support volunteer efforts and recognize volunteer contributions at local, national and international level. The theme of IVD-2020 is “Together We Can through volunteering”. In Pakistan, volunteers are associated with different national and international organizations like Rescue Service 1122, Pakistan Red Crescent, Boy Scouts and Girl Guides Association, UNV and VSO Pakistan etc. Salute to all volunteers who contributed to make their communities more resilient against natural and human induced disasters.
Every Year, one of the best bond of volunteers in association with Rescue Service 1122 is observed in National Community Emergency Response Team(CERT) /Volunteer Challenge held at Emergency Services Academy Lahore. In this competition volunteer teams from across the country are provided with an equal opportunity to exhibit disaster response skills. In this regard, the 4th National CERTs Challenge has been organized at the Academy from 2nd to 4th December 2020. The winner Volunteer team of inter UCs competition participated as district representative volunteer team in the National Challenge. The designated team of evaluators from the Academy evaluated Community Action for Disaster Response Skills (CADRE) Skills of all volunteer teams. This initiative of promoting volunteerism was taken by Director General Rescue Service, Dr Rizwan Naseer in order to mobilize the power of humanity for developing disaster resilience. Moreover, he aimed to transform the communities in Pakistan through an effective and pragmatic involvement of volunteers under Community Safety Program. In order to achieve the objectives for safer communities, over 5000 CERTs were established in all Union Councils of Punjab as per provision of Punjab Emergency Service Act 2006. This helped raise awareness on saving lives and promoting safety amongst 1 million people.