Delhi flies rescue teams, medical supplies & relief material to Nepal; PM Narendra Modi keeps watch

NEW DELHI: In one of its quickest and most extensive responses to an international emergency, India flew in rescue teams, medical supplies and relief material to Nepal where the death toll in the weekend’s earthquake crossed 2,500 by Sunday night.

The 7.9-magnitude quake that hit the Himalayan nation also left at least 62 people dead in India, mostly close to the border with Nepal. Bihar reported 46 deaths and Uttar Pradesh, 13. Reports from Kathmandu indicated a trail of destruction and harrowing time for its residents.

Bodies were still being pulled out from under the rubble of collapsed buildings, often with bare hands, and the city’s hospitals were swamped with injured.

Outside Kathmandu Medical College, a makeshift operation theatre was set up in a tent to carry out emergency surgeries and doctors said there was a severe shortage of medical supplies.

Rescue and relief work had to be stopped for a while on Sunday following a strong aftershock, which itself measured 6.7 and sent horrified people out into the streets. India was the first to send in aid, with supplies starting within hours of Saturday’s killer quake.

On Sunday, as many as 19 aircraft with relief material and rescue teams were sent. In its rescue efforts in Nepal, New Delhi has also upstaged China, which on Sunday sent in a rescue team with sniffer dogs and equipment.

Officials said India’s response was unusually quick.

“The instructions were clear that all possible assets have to be deployed with no time lapse,” an official, who is part of the response team, told ET.

“Unlike in the past when the military would be ready with a plan but would await political clearance that could take days at a time, the instructions from top were quick and precise.”

Operating at the very epicentre of the earthquake, Indian Air Force choppers rescued more than 200 people in 37 sorties from the worst-affected districts. India has also set up a field hospital in Kathmandu and sent in its engineers to work on restoring road connectivity.

“Besides rescuing people, the immediate task is to move equipment by air to open the roads to the interior (areas) where damage assessment has not been made. We are also repairing helipads so that a large-scale rescue effort can start that involves civilian operators,” a defence ministry official said.

An Indian Army expedition to Mt Everest which had a miraculous escape as it was practising when an avalanche hit its camp on Saturday has also been roped in for relief efforts. The team has dug out at least 19 bodies from the base camp besides rescuing 61 injured climbers. An Indian doctor, who is part of the team, is treating the injured.

PM Narendra Modi, who chaired a meeting with top ministers and the national security adviser, has ordered that the road route to Nepal should be opened and utilised to evacuate people and send in supplies. Modi has been monitoring the relief efforts personally and told the defence ministry, which is carrying out a bulk of the relief work, to spare no expense in the relief efforts, sources said.

India, which has so far deployed 19 aircraft including six choppers in Nepal, has kept more on standby for deployment if necessary. India will be sending more than 50 tonnes of water daily as long as it is required by Nepal.