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India intensifies rescue, relief ops

Surveys extensive damage at epicentre under Operation Maitri
Last Updated 26 April 2015, 20:23 IST

India will send an inter-ministerial team of senior officials to earthquake-ravaged Kathmandu for better coordination with the Nepalese authorities in the rescue and relief operations. 

The efforts were stepped up on Sunday with the deployment of 19 military aircraft, three field hospitals and a 34-member medical team that includes orthopaedic surgeons and anaesthetists.

The 34-member medical team sent to Nepal consists of 10 orthopaedic surgeons, four anaesthetists, 12 male nurses and eight OT technicians. They are now attached to civil hospitals in Kathmandu. In addition, 22 tonnes of medicines have also been sent.

The inter-ministerial team will be headed by an additional secretary-rank officer in the Union Home Ministry, and consist of officials from the External Affairs Ministry, Indian Air Force (IAF), Indian Army and the National Disaster Management Authority.

Much of the work so far has been undertaken by the Army and the IAF, under Operation Maitri, in which they are not only rescuing people and retrieving corpses, but also surveying far-off areas that have escaped the review of the Nepalese administration.

“Our helicopters on Sunday flew over the earthquake's epicentre, 75 miles north-west of Kathmandu, and saw extensive damages in that area. The damage to lives, however, may be less because lighter materials are used in building construction there,” said Defence Secretary R K Mathur after a review meeting.

India deployed half a dozen Mi-17 helicopters that made 37 sorties on Sunday to evacuate 203 passengers and drop 3,700 kg of loads. 

One of the most difficult operations was carried out in a badly-damaged helipad named Dhuncha, 50 km north of Kathmandu, where one Mi-17 V5 of the IAF rescued six persons.

Four IAF transport aircraft have brought back 546 people so far, and another 2,000 are expected to return in the 13 aircraft the IAF was operating on Sunday—four C-17 Globemaster III, three C-130J Super Hercules, four IL-76 and two AN-32. Two senior Army officer have been sent to Kathmandu for coordination with the Nepalese administration.

Ten National Disaster Response Force (NDRF) teams, along with the NDRF chief, are in Kathmandu and six more teams are on their way. 

The teams have been deployed at Lalitpur, Bhaktpur and Division valley, which are 10-12 km from Kathmandu. 

However, rescue operations were halted for few hours on Sunday following the 6.9-magnitude aftershock in the afternoon.An Indian Army team that took part in a Mount Everest expedition joined the rescue teams at the Everest base camp that was struck by an avalanche following the Saturday's quake. They retrieved the bodies of 19 foreign climbers and saved 61 injured people.

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(Published 26 April 2015, 19:38 IST)

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