INDIAN AIR FORCE HADR OPERATION IN GUJARAT AND RAJASTHAN

The States of Gujarat and Rajasthan had experienced heavy rains and floods in past few days. Accordingly, the IAF team swung into action and deployed Mi17V5 and Chetak helicopters at various location of the State for rescue and relief operations. A dedicated Humanitarian Assistance and Disaster Relief (HADR) Cell was activated at South Western Air Command, Gandhinagar to monitor the relief operations round the clock. Under the challenging weather conditions, with limited ground reference, these helicopters carried out rescue operations to save stranded people. Despite inclement weather, a total of 220 sorties were flown by IAF rescue team in Gujarat Area and 35 sorties in Rajasthan area. During the rescue operations, the crew dropped a total of 86 tonnes of food packets in flood affected areas of Gujarat state. C-17 and C-130J aircraft airlifted NDRF personnel and load to the airports nearest to the flooded areas.