As the sun rolled down on the western horizon over Yamuna, three C-17 Globe Masters, the strategic heavy lift aircraft of the Indian Air force, landed at Hindon Airbase after a long journey from Adana, Turkey, on 19 February 2023 bringing home the Indian Rescue Taskforce composed of Indian Army and National Disaster Relief Force teams. The very next day, Prime Minister Narendra Modi interacted with the team members, shared the stories of love and affection poured by Turkish/Syrian people and proudly appreciated the excellent humanitarian mission accomplished by the male, female and K 9 members of the team who worked day and night in adverse conditions for the rescue and relief tasks and earned goodwill for the nation. PM Modi said, “Your efforts have been appreciated by the whole world. Disaster response and relief measures have been commendable. India is proud of you.”
A 99-member self-contained medical team of the Indian Army successfully established a fully equipped 30-bed Field Hospital in Iskenderun, Hatay and attended to thousands of patients every day. A recent photograph of an Army doctor treating an injured young Turkish girl and K 9 Romeo and Juliet detecting a victim under the debris have been the focus of social media. Firat Sunel, the Turkish ambassador to India, thanked India and tweeted, “Dost kara gunde belli olur” (a friend in need is a friend in deed) “Dosts from Hind have arrived in Turkiye.”
A Search and Rescue Mission
Operation Dost was a search and rescue mission initiated by the Indian Government to aid Turkey and Syria after the massive earthquake rocked Syria and Turkey on 0417 hours in the early morning of 6 February 2023. The epicentre of the quake was 32 km west of Gaziantep township located in southern Turkey with an ultra-high intensity of 7.8 on the Richter scale followed by yet another tremor of 7.7 intensity after 8 hours, 95 km to the north in Kaharamanaras province. The multi-storey concrete houses, malls and road bridges collapsed like pack of cards resulting in thousands of fatal casualties, missing persons and lakhs of people suffering major injuries. Syria also suffered heavy losses, but comparatively lesser than Turkey. It suffered 7000 deaths and 15,000 severely injured whereas Turkey counted 50,000 fatalities and 1,25,000 badly injured. This was the deadliest seismic event in Turkey since 526 CE Antioch earthquake and also in Syria since 1822 CE Aleppo earthquake. The earthquake was followed by 2100 aftershock tremors multiplying the damage and loss of lives. It was the deadliest disaster in the world after the HAITI earthquake of 2010.
President Recep Tayyip Erdogan immediately declared a state of emergency to face the disaster for 3 months and ordered Search and Rescue teams to be activated. The National TV announced that people must not enter damaged buildings. The provinces badly affected were Adana, Hatay, Osmaniye, Kahramanras, Gaziantep, Kilis, Saniufra, Adiyaman, Malayta and Diyarbakir. The Turkish Government declared Level 4 alert for International Aid and Assistance. Nearly 25,000 Disaster management troops were already deployed and requisition had been forwarded to 70 countries. Inclement weather conditions, snowfall, rains and freezing cold hampered the rescue missions. There was a shortage of tents, blankets, medicines, food, and water in the affected areas. Adhoc shelters and Field Hospitals were required in the affected provinces.
Early Response
India was one of the first countries to respond to SOS from Turkey and Syria. The same evening a high-level meeting was convened and sanction of Taskforce for Rescue mission was sanctioned for Turkey and Syria. Three NDRF Composite teams of 150 personnel each (Total 450) from Ghaziabad and Kokatta under Commandant Gurinder Singh. It also had a women’s platoon for assistance to orthodox patients. The delay was because most of the Rescue members did not have passports. Overnight passports were issued. On-arrival visas were arranged by the Indian embassies in Turkey and Syria. A million dollar worth of Relief materials, Medicines etc were also despatched to Turkey along with the Rescue troops within 24 hours. The first C17 took off at midnight of 6/7 February for Adana town, followed by six more after every 2 hours. NDRF Teams were carrying drilling machines, stone cutters, detectors, drones, specialised rescue equipment and specially trained dog squads. The follow-up sorties carried medical supplies, tents, blankets, food supplies, and water bottles also. NDRF carried vehicles also so that they were self-contained and move to affected areas quickly. A team was airlifted to Syria also. The teams worked along with Army medical units.
NDRF – An Indian Specialised Force
National Disaster Response Force (NDRF) is an Indian specialised force created in 2006 for the purpose of a special response to a threatening disaster or Disaster. Under Disaster Management Authority under the chairmanship of the prime minister. The force is 13,000 strong headed by Director General Atul Kanwal, IPS, located in Antodya Bhavan, New Delhi. The motto is “Always ready to Serve in Disaster”.
Presently, there are 16 battalions of NDRF and the manpower has been taken from Central Armed Police Organisations. They are located all over India at 12 locations to cut response time. They have conducted 73 operations so far and saved 1,33,192 lives in floods, cyclones, quakes etc. They were deployed in Japan and Nepal also.
They are equipped with motor boats, life jackets, drilling equipment, cutters, detectors, drones, dozers, lifts etc. They also have specialised K 9 units with sniffer and detector Labradors. The Operational uniform is Orange Overalls, which could be seen from distance, and the Working uniform is steel grey. The force has earned great laurels in a short time.
Mobile Field Hospital
On 7 February 2023, 60 Para field Ambulance unit from Agra airlifted the entire mobile field hospital under command of Lt Col Yudhvir Singh. A 30-bed Indian Army Field hospital with a staff of 98 AMC Personnel was established and functional within 6 hours of landing at Iskenderun in Hatya province which included a fully functional Operation Theatre and Trauma care centre. The team of specialists included medical specialists, surgeons, anaesthetists, orthos, maxillofacial, military nursing officers, lab technicians and pharmacists.
Major Beena Tiwari, a lady medical officer, was also part of the team and was very popular with ladies and children. The dedicated staff treated 500 patients every day and carried out life-saving surgeries. The locals called them angels sent by God. The devotion and dedication of all medical teams had been applauded by the Government of Turkey and the people of Turkey.
Daily Sabah, a leading newspaper, carried the headline, ‘Thank you, Hind. We appreciate that you are with us in this hour of crisis. We are happy to see you.’ The commanding officer said a patient put his hand on his eyes and had tears and blessed us. The crowd cheered and cried as we were leaving after the accomplishment of the mission on 19 Feb 2023.
Civil War Situation
In spite of the current crisis of the civil war situation and international sanctions on Syria, on 8 February 2023, the first IAF C 17 landed at Damascus Airport with 6 tonnes of Emergency relief supplies consisting of Medicines, Protective gear, Food, tents and drilling machines. The Indian team was welcomed by Moutaz Douaji, Deputy Minister of Administration and Environment. It followed up with six more flights carrying Rescue teams and 23 tonnes of assorted Relief materials.
Pakistan as usual denied airspace to cross over Relief mission aircraft and the route had to be diverted over the Arabian Sea. PM Modi highlighted during interaction with Rescue teams on their return that India treats World as one Nation. We are all brothers. One for all. All for one. We follow “Vasudhaiva Kutumbakam”. The entire nation is proud of the Indian Rescue task force.
-The writer is an Indian Army veteran and a defence analyst. He has keen interest in Geo-strategic affairs and writes regularly on internal and external affairs issues related to India and neighbours. The views expressed are personal and do not necessarily reflect the views of Raksha Anirveda
