Following massive earthquakes in Turkey and Syria on Monday, India continues to extend a helping hand and has dispatched more relief material, equipment to help earthquake stricken people.
Assistance sent to Turkey
On Feb 7, 2023 four C-17 of Indian Air Force (IAF) airlifted relief material, personnel and equipment weighing over 108 tons. According to the Ministry of External Affairs (MEA) the plane loads 100 personnel of NDRF which are self contained and rescue units, they went with their special equipment, vehicles and dog squads.
These units are equipped with specialized equipment for location, access, detection and extrication. They will also be able to conduct collapsed structure search and also rescue (CSSR) operations.
The equipment that these personnel of NDRF are carrying specialized equipment are angle cutters, rotary rescue saw, victim location equipment, life detectors, lighting equipment, air-lifting bags, chainsaw, hand and power tools and more. And the special dog squads are trained to help locate victims trapped in collapsed structures.
The transport aircraft of the IAF also carried on board equipment and around 99 Indian Army personnel who will set up a 30 bed facility in field conditions. The medical team has specialists in various fields and the equipment includes ventilators, X-ray machines, operation theatre, generators and ambulances.
Syria:
According to the MEA, on late Tuesday night, IAF’s C130J transport aircraft carried almost six tons of relief material which included three truck loads of material. This included emergency use medicines, syringes and equipment including ECG machines, monitors, and other essential medical items, and general and protective gear.
On Wednesday the aircraft landed at the Damascus airport in earthquake-hit Syria, and the material was handed over by India’s Charge D’affaires S K Yadav to Deputy Minister of Local Administration and Environment of Syria Moutaz Douaji.
Massive destruction has been caused due to the earthquake and precious lives lost in Syria, following Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s instruction on Monday; India has been extending all possible help to both Syria and Turkey.
Over the years India has been sending humanitarian, development and technical assistance to Syria through bilateral and multilateral channels.
Besides India, other countries which have extended humanitarian assistance to the two countries include the US and UK who have sent in their search and rescue specialists and relief materials too.