Aniruddha’s Academy of Disaster Management (AADM), is a charitable organization incorporated in April 2005 with ‘Disaster Management’ as its principal object. It is the culmination of Param Poojya Shri Aniruddha Bapu’s divine foresight and vision that has given concrete shape to the idea of having an academy of disaster management, that would impart basic training to the citizens of the country at large and specialized training to the would be trainers, on how to cope with all kinds of disasters, both natural and man-made. The trained volunteers would, in turn, reach out among the masses across the length and breadth of the country.
Disaster Management, as an idea and concept took shape in the year 2001 under the auspices of Sadguru Shree Aniruddha Upasana Trust. A14-day workshop organized from 14th February 2002 to 27th February 2002 marked a definite and successful beginning in that direction. On the occasion, highly qualified officers from the Municipal Corporation of Greater Mumbai Police, Mumbai Fire Brigade and institutes such as KEM Hospital, BYL Nair Hospital and IIT Mumbai delivered lectures on various aspects of possible disasters and disaster management plans. It was in early 2005, when the activity had gathered the requisite ‘critical mass’ that the need was felt to hive off this activity into a separate organization, in order to get the focus and attention that it deserved.
Currently, AADM’s scope of operations covers conducting basic training courses, providing assistance to local and civic bodies during any unforeseen natural and man-made disasters and providing crowd control seva at various public functions. AADM has also undertaken projects such as Vermiculture and Pulse Polio Vaccination drives for the general welfare of society.
1. Basic Training Course
The Basic Training Course includes training Disaster Management Volunteers (DMVs) in the finer aspects of first-aid with the objective of saving lives until proper medical assistance arrives. Apart from the first-aid techniques the training course also covers information on all possible kinds of disasters and ways to effectively respond to them. This includes natural disasters such as earthquakes, floods, cyclones, famines, drought, etc. and man made disasters such as bomb blast, communal riots etc., as also nuclear, biological and chemical warfare, which have come to pose a genuine and serious threat to the very survival of mankind and civilization.
The training course also includes practical sessions that teach the participants various Rescue Methods, Cardio- Pulmonary Cerebral Resuscitation (CPCR techniques), Fire fighting etc. These training courses are offered free of cost. The Academy has so far successfully trained more than forty-thousand citizens, many of whom have become DMVs.
‘The Textbook of Disaster Management’ prepared by the Academy has proved to be of great help in training the average citizen on how to effectively face disaster situations. The basic aim of this disaster management course is to teach a person to save one’s life first in order to be able to save other people’s lives.
2. Natural Disasters
When Mumbai and in fact the entire state of Maharashtra was caught unawares in the grip of the floods caused by the torrential rains of 26th July 2005, the disaster management team of AADM reached out to several places within and outside Mumbai to assist the local administration and the police in the rescue operations. 
The efforts put in by the DMVs of AADM during the rescue operations was greatly appreciated and was acknowledged in the form of an invitation to participate in the ‘Monsoon Disaster Plan (2007)’ launched by the municipal authorities of Mumbai. The heavy showers in July 2007 too led to floods in several areas of Mumbai. The AADM, adhering to its basic objective, rushed its DMVs to the sites where flooding had occurred and helped regulate traffic and transport people to safety. In doing so, the DMVs adopted innovative techniques, such as making rafts from used plastic bottles, for ferrying people to safety.
Landslides like the one that occurred at Saki Naka, Mumbai on 26th July 2005, are instances of disasters, that require trained human intervention. The DMVs played a major role in assisting the local authorities, fire brigade and police in extricating bodies that were trapped in the rubble of the landslide and also helped in saving lives, under extremely challenging conditions.
Being trained in handling incidents of fire, the DMVs extend help and first aid, as they did at Jogeshwari (a fire at the office of Fairdeal Corporation Ltd.) and Sakinaka (fire caused by short circuit at Hansa Ind. Estate) in Mumbai on 26th January, 2006 and 6th July, 2006, respectively. 
3. Man-Made Disasters
In the recent past, the city of Mumbai has been witness to acts of terrorism by way of bomb blast, in which many an innocent life has been lost. The serial blast in the suburban train compartments of the Western Railway on 11th July 2006, sent a wave of panic among the citizens. The DMVs promptly reached the various sites and assisted the authorities in rescuing people from the debris and transporting the injured as well as the dead bodies to nearby hospitals. 
The DMVs also actively participated in the relief work following the bomb blast in Mumbai at Ghatkopar on 2.12.02 and at Mumbai Central on 6.12.02; they not only helped transport victims to local hospitals but also helped their relatives to complete the registration formalities at the hospital.
4. Crowd Control during Festivals
Fairs and festivals at religious places attract crowds in large numbers and from regions far and wide. The DMVs help the police and local authorities in controlling and regulating the crowds queuing up for darshan, as also in the channels where large crowd movement takes place. In the year 2005, during the annual festival fair at Mandhardevi, satara, a huge stampede occurred and nearly 250 people lost their lives. DMVs from the nearby centers (males as well as females) rushed to the disaster site immediately and commenced rescue operations.
DMVs carried the dead bodies to a safe place with the help of ropes and other specialized techniques. Female DMVs also actively helped the hospital staff in receiving and attending to the patients/dead bodies.
Apart from this, DMVs had also helped in managing the angry and panicking crowd around the hospital.
This seva was appreciated by the Hon’ble Chief Minister of Maharashtra Shri Vilasrao Deshmukh as well as the Dy. Chief Minister Shri R.R.Patil, who personally met the DMVs and appreciated the seva.
The DMVs of the AADM have been invited on a regular basis to manage crowd of bhaktas at the annual festival of Jyotiba, at the Kumbh Mela and at the Mandhardevi fair for the last 3 years. AADM also offers, on a regular basis, seva at the Shree Siddhivinayak temple (Prabhadevi, Mumbai) on the day of ‘Sankashta Chaturthi’ and during the ‘Navaratri festival’ at Mahalakshmi temple (Mahalakshmi, Mumbai).
Moreover, since the past two years, AADM has been offering crowd control seva at the Mount Mary Fair organized annually at the Mount Mary Church, Bandra. At each of these venues, the Academy also sets up a well-equipped medical counter to take care of any medical emergencies.
The Ganesh Chaturthi festival celebrated in Maharashtra has certain specific days for the immersion of idols. On these days the DMVs help the civic authorities and play a major role in the management of the massive gatherings. On the request of the Fire Brigade, for the past two years DMVs of the Academy are being posted in the immediate vicinity of at least 22 different immersion spots of Navi Mumbai in order to control & regulate the huge crowds that gather on the occasion of immersion. 
5. Lord Ganesh Idols re-immersion seva
Lord Ganesh idols are usually made of plaster of Paris and, therefore, take a long time to completely dissolve in water. Consequently, these idols are washed back to the shore, which is certainly not a pleasant sight to behold. The DMVs, alongwith the volunteers of its sister organization Shree Aniruddha Upasana Foundation, then undertake the re-immersion of such idols in the deeper waters with the help of boats. The beaches are also fully cleaned and spruced up with infrastructural support from the Municipal authorities by way of garbage vans, equipments, etc.
6. Training for the Police Force at Nandurbar
AADM conducted a workshop on 10th Feb 2008 for the police force on the invitation of the Superintendent of Police-Nandurbar. The workshop was attended by the Superintendent, the Deputy Superintendent, 38 other officers and 150 police personnel. The session dealt with basic issues such as the meaning and implications of a disaster as also related vital issues like first aid, Cardio-Pulmonary Cerebral Resuscitation (CPCR), transportation of casualties, applying bandages and tying knots. Practical demonstrations complemented the explanation and facilitate understanding on the part of trainees.
Pleased with this comprehensive workshop, the Superintendent of Police requested that the
AADM conduct a similar training course for the entire police force in the region. It was then decided that two batches per week would avail of the training that began on 3rd May 2008. The course had an organized pattern of theory lectures in the morning sessions, lectures and demonstrations based on rescue methods in the afternoon sessions; ending with practice segments of rescue methods for trainees in the evenings, of which First-aid and CPCR also formed part. Stress, being a predictable consequence of disaster, the training in disaster management would not be complete without training in stress management. The naamasamaran, unconditional faith in the bhagavanta, patience and fortitude were, therefore, emphasized upon in this segment.
The Superintendent of Police then instructed that the entire staff of all police stations avail of this training. Convinced about its vitality, the District Collector – Nandurbar, made arrangements for training sessions at Nandurbar and Shahada.
Considering the frequency of disaster both man-made and natural, these courses will surely go a long way in equipping us to successfully face and manage disasters.
7. Pulse Polio Vaccination
Polio is a highly infectious disease caused by a virus. It attacks the nervous system, and can cause total paralysis in a matter of hours. It can strike at any age, but mainly affects children under the age of three (accounting for over 50% of all cases). There is no cure for polio; it can only be prevented through immunization. The polio vaccine, administered in multiple doses, at monthly intervals almost always protects a child for life.
The polio virus generally spreads through contaminated water. As there is lack of awareness about the importance of hygiene in our country, polio tends to spread at a faster rate. Thus, to make children immune to polio and to eradicate it completely from our city/country, the Brihanmumbai Mahanagarpalika / Govt of India has, from time to time, undertaken Pulse Polio Vaccination drives, wherein every child below six years of age is administered polio vaccine every month for a specified period.
In may 2005, the Brihanmumbai Mahanagarpalika asked AADM to provide volunteers for its vaccination programme. Since then, AADM has been regularly providing volunteers for this pulse polio vaccination seva.
This seva is carried out on a Sunday of every month (as decided by BMC). The vaccinations are provided by BMC, and a trained Doctor provides guidance to the volunteers about the usage of medicine and the necessary precaution to be taken while giving the vaccine to the children. The DMVs provide seva at pulse polio booths, which are usually situated at railway platforms and at areas having maximum crowd density; the idea being to cover the maximum number of children and to make every child free from polio. DMVs from Mumbai and also from areas like Thane, Kalyan-Dombivali, and Navi Mumbai have been actively participating in the Pulse Polio Vaccination Drive.
8. Proposed Projects of AADM
In addition to above mentioned ongoing projects, the AADM is also working on various other projects such as reduction and eventual eradication of the plastic menace (for spreading awareness about the ill-effects of the excessive use of plastic/plastic bags and to promote the use of paper bags), Leprosy Awareness (for spreading awareness about leprosy and eradicating various myths and misconceptions in people’s minds regarding leprosy), HIV Aids Awareness (for making people aware and forewarning them about this most dangerous and fast-spreading virus), study on Industrial Disasters (for studying various reasons for occurrence of disasters in industrial sector and the prevention methods).
With the world gradually spiraling towards a phase of confrontation, fuelled by political, ideological and parochial differences, coupled with the increasing incidence of natural disasters, the AADM finds itself on the threshold of an extremely challenging future, a challenge that it is gearing itself up to meet, with the inspiration and blessings of Param Poojya Sadguru Shree Aniruddha Bapu.
The efforts put in by the DMVs of AADM during the rescue operations was greatly appreciated and was acknowledged in the form of an invitation to participate in the ‘Monsoon Disaster Plan (2007)’ launched by the municipal authorities of Mumbai. The heavy showers in July 2007 too led to floods in several areas of Mumbai. The AADM, adhering to its basic objective, rushed its DMVs to the sites where flooding had occurred and helped regulate traffic and transport people to safety. In doing so, the DMVs adopted innovative techniques, such as making rafts from used plastic bottles, for ferrying people to safety.
The DMVs also actively participated in the relief work following the bomb blast in Mumbai at Ghatkopar on 2.12.02 and at Mumbai Central on 6.12.02; they not only helped transport victims to local hospitals but also helped their relatives to complete the registration formalities at the hospital.
As the name suggests, this is a bank, but one that stands apart from the rest. This is knowledge bank that stores knowledge in the form of Audio Cassettes/CDs for the benefit of the visually challenged. Audio Cassettes/CDs based on the academic curriculum are prepared and given to the visually challenged students of various blind schools and colleges. Curriculum of course meant for blind adults, viz. physiotherapy, as also technical courses like lathe training are also record on cassettes and CDs. The project has been targeted to reach out to the entire country over the next three years, wherein the Cassettes/CDs will be prepared in different languages of the country, depending on the requirement. Volunteers, primarily ladies, record the Cassettes/CDs sitting at home, which gives them an ideal opportunity o balancing home and work, and in the process getting a sense of fulfillment. To date, this project has reached out to the needs of such reputed charitable institutions for the visually challenged, such as ‘The kamala Mehta School for the Blind’, ‘The Victoria School for the Blind’ and the ‘National Association for the Blind’ (NAB) and is now in the process of connecting with a wider user base. So far, more than 30,000 Cassettes and 3000 CDs have been distributed to various schools and institutions, free of cost, across India and other countries. So far, the curriculum has been recorded on CDs and cassettes in 11 Indian languages, not only for school going students but also for people pursuing post-graduate and vocational courses.
Param Poojya Bapu believes that the energy acquired through these Vidyas can bring about major positive changes in the world. During ancient times, India was known and valued for its physical and mental health, to which the comprehensive stud
