Preventing accidental drowning in Assam

The drowning of five boys in two separate incidents in Assam on Sunday is a pointer to the increasing vulnerability of children to accidental drowning in the state, even though it is preventable. The rise in incidents of accidental drowning speaks volumes about the weakening of traditional safety norms, strict adherence to which can prevent such tragedies. Allowing children to play near a waterbody without supervision by parents or adult members increases the risk of drowning. The children are always attracted by the fun of splashing in a waterbody, but they are unaware of the associated risk of drowning. Often, while playing near a waterbody, unsupervised children move dangerously close to it, unmindful of the slippery banks, when they try to fetch the ball they were playing with that fell in it. Training the children to swim reduces the risk, but it is wrong to assume that it can entirely prevent accidental drowning. Apart from imparting lessons on swimming, teaching children to understand how water depth and flow regime can vary in different water bodies is also essential to educating them to refrain from waterplay in any waterbody, the depth and flow of which are not known to them. According to the Assam State Disaster Management Authority, drowning is one of the major causes of death during annual floods in the state. It issues reminders urging parents not to allow children to play in or near flood waters, but the recurrence of accidental drownings of children indicates that many parents are ignoring such caution. Apart from children, incidents of accidental drownings of youth are also on the rise in the state. The craze for taking selfies near a river, wetland, or any waterbody has led to many tragic incidents of accidental drowning when people are unaware of the risk of standing on a slippery bank or slipper rock. In several cases, accidental drowning of even adult people with swim skills points towards a lack of awareness about avoiding swimming in unfamiliar water bodies with strong currents. Floods are an annual disaster that claim many lives in the state. The increase in cases of accidental drowning, even during non-flood periods, has mirrored the lack of water safety education. Traditional community skills in swimming and water survival can be leveraged to institutionalise swimming and water safety lessons. Making swimming lessons mandatory at school level can be explored with panchayats, local bodies, and other local administrations developing safe and secure training infrastructure. Access control can be another measure to prevent accidental drowning in high-risk and hazardous waterbodies. Identification of such a waterbody, erecting access barriers, and placing appropriate signage will encourage people to take adequate precautions and avoid venturing into such a waterbody. Another traditional skill among different communities in rural Assam is rescuing and resuscitating the drowned, which can also be institutionalised to save lives. Often, bystanders helplessly watch people drown because they lack safe rescue and resuscitation training. Educational institutions and local sports clubs can play crucial roles in organising such training programmes periodically so that the number of community rescuers can increase. Such institutionalised training programmes must not be confined to rural Assam and should also cover urban areas so that overall disaster-preparedness in the entire state can improve. A major benefit of institutionalising basic swim skills is that it can increase the popularity of swimming as a sport and groom international-level swimmers, provided the required infrastructure is built in rural sports clusters. Improving safety in passenger transport on boats and ferries is another priority area to prevent incidents of drowning. The state government made life jackets mandatory on all ferries and boats to prevent ferry and boat tragedies, but due to a lack of enforcement, boat operators are seen flouting the norms, and most ferry passengers also show reluctance to observe the safety norms and wear life jackets even when they are available. Such negligence towards safety is also reflective of a lack of awareness of accidental drowning in society, which is a cause for concern. The spread of digital media has brought the opportunity to use the new media to spread awareness much faster and to a wider audience through social media networks. The issue of accidental drowning attracts media attention, be it traditional media or new media, only after tragedies occur, due to which public discourse on its prevention is also insignificant. The reaction of people is often limited to showing concern over a particular incident and sympathising with the families of victims when they come across news of such incidents. However, they lack any collective effort to bring about a change to prevent such tragedies, as they fail to connect the dots to imagine the big picture of accidental drowning. It is high time prevention of accidental drowning got a policy push by the state government to save lives and institutionalise water safety and survival skills by leveraging traditional knowledge.