Civil Defence to set up 320 fire, rescue stations
By Hina Kiyani

ISLAMABAD—The department of Civil Defence with the assistance of the UK government will establish 320 fire and rescue stations, each also equipped with an emergency medical center, Director General Civil Defence Sarfaraz Arshad Toor said here Monday.
He said that a memorandum of understanding for the setting up of the stations was signed earlier this year between the Interior Ministry and Beema-Pakistan Company Limited, partner of the British agency "The Lancashire Fire and ResWork on the project will be started soon after obtaining necessary approval of the President and the Prime Minister, Sarfaraz said.
Shahnawaz Agha, Beema-Pakistan Chairman and Chief Executive, said the project would cost US $ 500 million, which includes trained manpower, fire fighting vehicles and ambulances as well as other equipment. The project would be completed in 36 months.
Initially master trainers of Civil Defence department would be trained in UK, who would undertake necessary training of personnel at the civil defence training institutes already set up in the four provinces and Azad Kashmir, he said.
According to the MoU between the interior ministry and Beema- Pakistan the government will insure the entire population with the company at Rs.100 premium per annum per person.
The insurance in response will cover the risk of loss of life and permanent disability at Rs. 100,000 and Rs. 50,000 respectively caused by fire, natural or man-made disasters.
He said this scheme would relieve the government of shouldering the burden of paying compensation in future.
According to the figures provided by the Statistics Division, every year in Pakistan 34,000 people are affected as a result of natural and other incidents.
Shahnawaz said the October 8 earthquake has underlined the need for compulsory civil defence training in educational institutions and a resolution for this has already been passed by the National Assembly.