Even as the authorities turned to help hundreds of passengers trapped in the overturned and mangled wreckage of two passenger trains, one of which derailed on to the adjacent track and was struck by an incoming train, while hitting a nearby stationary goods train, more and more inspiring stories of the Odisha Disaster Rapid Action Force (ODRAF) are emerging.
Set up by the Odisha government soon after the aftermath of the devastating October 1999 ‘super’ cyclone, the ODRAF is now the first responder in disaster-prone Odisha, where floods and cyclones are common.
As the ‘super’ cyclone had brought to the fore the limitation of the state administration in addressing the unique challenges of such disasters, the need for a professionally trained workforce was even more critical.
And now the ODRAF excels at managing both natural and man-made disasters.
Within half an hour of the train accident on June 2, a team of 30 ODRAF personnel had reached the accident spot from Balasore and swung into action, according to a report in The Indian Express.
Four more teams of 120 additional personnel reached the site from Kalinganagar, Baripada, Bhubaneswar and Dhenkanal, and were later joined by multiple teams of Odisha Fire Services and the NDRF.
The skilled team of ODRAF personnel were armed with tower lights, gas cutters, plasma cutters and hydraulic spreaders, added the report.
“The death toll could have been much higher had the government of Odisha not intervened in time. The expeditious mobilisation of the ODRAF and fire service teams saved the lives of 1,200 injured,” Odisha Industries Secretary Hemant Sharma, who monitored the rescue operation on the ground, said, as quoted by IE.
Sharma added that past experience of disasters helped plan ahead, with the necessary arrangements. With doctors, ambulances, medical staff, paramedics, essential medicines on standby, patients did not face any waiting time at hospitals, Sharma said.
In the past, too, the ODRAF-led teams have been lauded for ensuring that human casualties were kept to the minimum during extremely severe cyclones in Odisha, including Phailin in 2013, Titli in 2018 and Fani in 2019.
During the disaster of 1999, the then Congress chief minister, Giridhar Gamang, had to resign, and in the state elections that ensued the following year in February, the BJD-BJP alliance, led by Naveen Patnaik, was voted to power.
With everyone from the chief minister to the people of Odisha taking disasters seriously and aiming for zero casualties, Odisha has emerged as a role model in disaster management.
Naveen Patnaik praises locals
Chief minister Naveen Patnaik too praised local residents for rescuing over 1,000 lives following the fatal train accident.
The locals provided support to rescue operations and the long queues for blood donation are “sights rare but invaluable”, he said on Tuesday.
All including doctors, medical students, general public, had only one thing in mind – let’s save lives. And we have saved more than a thousand lives,” Patnaik said, adding: “I am proud of my people. I am proud of Odisha.”
The death toll from the three-train crash was raised again to 288 on Tuesday, state chief secretary PK Jena said.