Even as Nepal scrambled to get its people out of rubbles that Kathmandu and several other cities are reduced to, India scaled up its efforts to pull out its citizens from the earthquake zone and provide succour to victims of Nepal. The Indian Air Force (IAF) aircraft are rushing relief and rescue material to Nepal and are flying back with big batches of Indians.
Between Saturday evening and Sunday night over 2,000 Indians were brought back through air and road routes. These included an under-14 girls’ football squad, which was struck in Kathmandu.
Meanwhile, death toll in India rose to 62 and 259 injured were reported from various States. According to Union Home Secretary lC Goyal, the highest causality was reported from Bihar with 46 deaths and 156 injured; Uttar Pradesh reported 13 deaths and 46 injured; West Bengal reported two deaths and 52 injured, one death in Rajasthan, and eight people were injured in Sikkim. Besides, two deaths of Indians were reported from Nepal. The Indian Government has announced a compensation of Rs6 lakh each for those dead.
In New Delhi, Prime Minister Narendra Modi and External Affairs Minister Sushma Swaraj were keeping an eye on the operations termed as Operation Maitri. India is the first country to reach out to Nepal even as several others like the United States, Canada, China and Pakistan have offered to help.
On Sunday, the PM held a review meeting to study details of the rescue operations. And, as weather forecast predicted heavy rains in the next 24 hours in Nepal, the PM urged agencies to expedite the pace of rescue and evacuation work.
With time running out, Indian Air Force (IAF) pressed 13 military aircraft for Operation Maitri, and ten helicopters started airlifting injured, dropping food packets and carrying medical teams and medicines.
Besides medicines, blankets, food and water, Nepal has also sought oxygen cylinders and antibiotics. Engineering teams of the Indian Army were being sent Kathmandu to help restore power and telecommunication services and cutting out debris. Air India, Jet Airways and Spice Jet started their operations to Kathmandu carrying relief material and bringing back people.
In addition, 35 buses carrying Indians and foreign nationals have left Kathmandu, though the road routes are choked. Foreign Secretary S Jaishankar said buses from Bihar, UP and Uttarakhand will be going across through Sonauli and Raxaul routes to bring back stranded citizens by road.
The Foreign Secretary said a team of senior officials is going to Kathmandu to co-ordinate Indian efforts and oversee areas beyond Kathmandu that have been impacted by the quake.
Meanwhile, ten Urban Search and Rescue (USAR) teams of National Disaster Response Force (NDRF) have been deployed in various areas of Nepal. So far, NDRF teams have rescued eight victims from under the debris and pulled out 33 bodies in Nepal. Four USAR teams which were deployed in Supaul, Motihari, Darbhanga, and Gopalganj in northern Bihar and one team in Gorpakhpur in UP, have finished their operations but they have been kept on standby.
Army chief Gen Dalbir Singh, who besides himself being an officer of the Gurkha Rifles Regiment, is in touch with his counterpart, General SJB Rana, Chief of the Nepalese Army. Aviation assets of Army -- five AlH helicopters and two Cheetah helicopters -- have been pressed into ‘Operation Maitri’. An Indian Army Everest Expedition was training at Base Camp when the earthquake struck.
The team is reported to be safe even though their equipment got buried in the avalanche. The team, however, helped in recovery of dead bodies of other foreign climbers. Service of ex-servicemen and 38,000 Nepalese in Gurkha Rifles are also being used.