Towards the end of the First World War, with the rapid development of air techniques, the need to protect the civil population from air attack was felt very seriously. And an Outfit known as A.R.P. (Air Raid Precaution) came into being. The people living in the cities in this part of the sub-continent during the Second World War, can remember that whenever a siren was sounded the people of the cities used to go into trenches for shelters. This Outfit gradually developed into Civil Defence with greater responsibilities during the Second World War and thereafter for taking all necessary measures to reduce the damage caused by various war actions. In the then East Pakistan Civil Defence was organised by the government in 1951 constitutionally by an Act. The following year, to perform those responsibilities, this Department opened Civil Defence Academy and introduced various subjects for study and organised training groups of people drawn from various public and private organisations as well as volunteers from general public. The overall concept of this training was to teach general public to reduce the effects of war on them. For training the methods to be adopted to following Civil Defence measures were considered necessary:

(a) Preventive and Precautionary Measures: Those measures are organised to enable us to take steps before the development of Air Raids to minimise their effects, these include (i) Warning System (ii) Lighting Restrictions (iii) Camouflage (iv) Evacuation and Dispersal (v) Shelters and Structural Protection.

(b) Civil Defence Services Proper: The possibility of an Air Attack and the damage to be caused by it can not be ruled out by adopting Preventive and Precautionary measures only. Therefore the following Civil Defence operational services consisting of paid officers and staff and volunteers are to be organised to minimise the damage to life and property:

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