Kathmandu, May 4 (IANS) The massive rescue and relief work by India in quake-hit Nepal is its biggest response to a natural calamity in a foreign country, India’s envoy here said on Monday.
Ambassador Ranjit Rae made the observation during a briefing given to the Kathmandu-based diplomatic community on India’s ongoing assistance to the Himalayan nation following the April 25 killer quake.
“Operation Maitri” is the largest ever support operation by India in response to a natural calamity abroad, a statement from the Indian embassy said.
“It represented not only the deepest commitment at the highest political level in India but also overwhelming outpouring of support from the people of India and over a dozen Indian states including those bordering Nepal.”
Rae said India was ready to offer any support to Nepal within its means.
He said the first Indian Air Force (IAF) flight landed in Kathmandu with rescue teams from the National Disaster Response Force (NDRF) and relief material within six hours of the devastating quake.
Thereafter, 32 IAF flights brought in 520 tonnes of relief material containing tents, blankets, medicines, food, water, heavy engineering equipment, ambulances, RO plants, oxygen generators, two full-fledged army field hospitals with 18 medical teams, 18 army engineering teams and 16 NDRF teams.
“These teams have been working round-the-clock since their deployment in close coordination with the government of Nepal,” he said.
Eight MI-17 and five ALH helicopters of the Indian Army, operating from Kathmandu and Pokhara, have carried 207 tonnes of relief material in 449 sorties, evacuated over 900 injured and transported over 1,700 stranded people of various nationalities, the envoy said.
“More than 2,600 earthquake victims have been treated so far by the Indian medical teams. Of these, 1,170 have been treated at Barpak, the epicentre of the earthquake.”
A 10-member Chinese rescue team was inducted and extricated from Pipaldanda in Sindhupalchok by the IAF, he said. A Singaporean medical team was also inducted through IAF at Laprak.
A 31-member team from the All India Institute of Medical Sciences (AIIMS) in New Delhi and a medical team from Gujarat were working at the National Trauma Centre in Kathmandu, he said.
Eleven doctors from Shantikunj in Haridwar were deployed in Kathmandu.
Two teams from Haryana and Punjab have started field kitchens at Bhaktapur and Kupondole, providing meals to over 10,000 people a day.
He added that some 4,500 tonnes of relief material containing food, water, medicines, tents, blankets, tarpaulins and plastic sheets from Bihar and Uttar Pradesh had reached Nepal.
According to the statement, the diplomats at the meeting “deeply appreciated” India’s commitments to the rescue and relief work and said they would like to work closely with New Delhi.
On Monday, 18 trucks containing 100 tonnes of food and relief material and an ambulance with 5,000 blood testing kits were received from the Uttar Pradesh government.
The Nepal earthquake measured 7.9 on the Richter scale and killed more than 7,000 people, injured thousands and caused widespread destruction. It is feared that the death toll may go up further.