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Army, navy tackle cyclone relief on a war footing

The Eastern Naval Command despatched two naval ships to the cyclone-affected area off Srikakulam on Thursday last for rendering assistance to about 150 fishing boats stranded there.

According to the ENC sources, the ships commenced search operations in the area to bring the fishing boats to safety.

The ENC was in constant touch with the commissioner of relief at Hyderabad and with the district collectors of Visakhapatnam and Srikakulam for further assistance.

The sources said one of the ships, which had on board medical stores, diving gear and helicopters, had proceeded to Paradip in Orissa for assistance to the cyclone victims.

Two aircraft of the navy had been pressed into action today for aerial survey and reconnaissance and two helicopters with diving crew were kept as stand-by for despatch to Bhubaneswar once the weather improved.

The maritime operations centre at the ENC had been monitoring the storm situation since its beginning in the Andaman Sea and all units of the command had been put on alert, the sources said.

Meanwhile, the army too has fully got into the act. Infantry columns, comprising about 2,000 personnel, along with medical units have been rushed to Orissa to evacuate casualties, distribute food packets, clear roads and carry out other relief measures.

The army personnel, led by Brigadier Sharma, commandant of the Punjab regimental centre, will be deployed in the worst affected areas of Paradip, Bhubaneshwar, Cuttack, Jajpur, Jagatsinghpur, Bhadrak and Kendrapara, a spokesman of the army said.

Also involved in the relief operation, named Sahayata, are army engineers, medical teams, signal communication detachments and electrical and mechanical engineers who have been equipped with universal type assault boats. These personnel have been rushed from Calcutta and Ranchi.

The troops will be assisting the Orissa government and other central agencies in providing immediate rescue and relief operations along with restoration of surface communications, power supply and distribution of relief material.

The Operation Sahayata commander will have his headquarters at Bhubaneswar.

A field ambulance (medical unit) has been moved today to provide emergency medical aid and life saving surgery in cyclone-hit areas.

Two signal detachments have been flown in by the army from the army headquarters with Inmarsat terminals to re-establish telecommunications at Bhubaneswar and Balasore with the rest of the country.

The engineer columns will help to restore surface communications and assist the state authorities in restoring power and water supplies and reach out to the marooned citizens with flood relief supplies.

Pending arrival of relief columns by this evening, troops of nearby locations have started immediate relief work. One column from Balasore along with a recovery vehicle is clearing the Balasore-Dhamara road. One column from Air Defence College, Gopalpur, is clearing the road between Chilikalok and Bhubaneswar. Another one with recovery vehicles, bulldozers and fire tenders is kept as standby for any immediate task.

Engineer columns will clear roads between Sanmhalpur and Cuttack, Jagatsinghpur and Cuttack and areas around Kendrapara.

Efforts are on to fly part of an engineer regiment from Chandigarh along with electricity generating sets to restore electricity and surface communications.

UNI

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