Eight foreign nations take part in Annual Joint HADR Exercise in Goa

Eight foreign countries - Comoros, Madagascar, Maldives, Mauritius, Mozambique, Seychelles, Sri Lanka and Tanzania - participated in the annual Annual Joint HADR Exercise, which concluded in Goa.

The exercise was hosted by the Indian Navy from October 9-11 and dwelled upon many aspects of Humanitarian Assistance and Disaster Relief (HADR).

The AJHE-2023 ‘Chakrawat’, as the exercise is known, saw participation of multiple agencies.

The event concluded with a multi-agency capability demonstration at Mole Berth, within the Port of Mormugao, to showcase drills on rescue and relief.

The participating agencies included National Disaster Management Authority (NDMA), National Disaster Response Force (NDRF), National Institute for Disaster Management (NIDM), Indian Army, Indian Navy, Indian Air Force, Coast Guard, India Meteorological Department (IMD), National Remote Sensing Agencies (NRSA), State Disaster Management Agency (SDMA) and State Fire Services, Goa, District Disaster Management Agency (DDMA) of North and South, Goa, Indian National Centre for Ocean Information Services (INCOIS), Central Water Commission (CWC), Defence Research and Development Organisation (DRDO) and representatives from Federation of Indian Chambers of Commerce and Industry (FICCI).

The AJHE-23 commenced with a seminar to discuss synergy in response to climate change and associated disaster adaptation and mitigation.

On October 10, a Table-Top Exercise with reps from all participating agencies and delegates from eight foreign countries was conducted as a capstone event of AJHE-23 at INS Hansa.

The exercise deliberated a scenario of cyclone making landfall at Goa resulting in flooding and widespread destruction of infrastructure upto 100 km hinterland from the coast. Participating agencies discussed and presented joint plans for rendering humanitarian assistance.

An Industrial Display was also organised by FICCI coordination with the Indian Navy to showcase ready to export HADR equipment manufactured by both public and private sectors.

The event concluded with a Multi-Agency Capability Demonstration at Mole Berth, within the Port of Mormugao, to showcase drills on rescue and relief. Teams from NDRF, Indian Navy, Indian Air Force, Indian Coast Guard and State Fire Services, Goa participated in the demonstration.

“The discussions amongst the participants over the three days of the exercise enabled improved understanding of the capabilities of each organisation and paved a path for better coordination between various agencies during an HADR scenario,” an Indian Navy spokesperson said.