Defence Crisis Management Group coordinating rescue operations

NEW DELHI: Defence Crisis Management Group (DCMG) is coordinating rescue operations in cyclone-hit Andhra Pradesh and Odisha.

"The DCMG, an apex level body of the Defence Ministry to deal with crisis situations was activated on October 11.

"In Phase-I, it coordinated the moving forward of various resources and keeping them ready to deploy as per requirement of the state governments along with setting up of the Unified Task Force headquarters at Bhubaneswar consisting of an overall Task Force Commander and individual service component commanders," a Defence Ministry release said here today.

In Phase-II, after the cyclone made the landfall, effort has been towards damage assessment to enable the defence forces to provide requisite assistance in the shortest possible time, it said.

In Phase-III, the focus will be towards relief and rehabilitation. Currently the defence forces are involved in clearing roads. Air operations will commence the moment weather opens up, it said.

In the rescue operations, the IAF has deployed 30 choppers and 13 transport aircraft including the recently acquired C-130J Super Hercules transport aircraft.

"Army has deployed 14 columns apart from six Medical Teams and an Engineer Task Force...In addition, personnel of Garud Special Forces and Rapid Action Medical Team have been inducted.

"Navy has kept its large warships ready at Visakhapatnam with rations for 10,000 persons, potable water and medical teams with adequate supplies. Thirty diving teams are also on standby," the release said.

The Coast Guard is also taking part in a big way in the operations.

"It has deployed 15 of its ships at Kakinada, Paradip and Visakhapatnam for search and rescue near the coast. Their helicopters and aircraft have already commenced patrolling. Today they managed to rescue 19 Chinese and one Indonesian crewmen of the sunken Panamanian ship MV Bingo," the release said.