Aid Rendered – Kerala Flood – as on 23 August, 2018

Once the water receded, Southern Naval command (SNc) terminated Operation Madad, the largest ever humanitarian and disaster relief (hADR) operation undertaken, “that lasted close to 16 days, with a total of 16,843 persons having been rescued, of which 15,670 were by boat, while 1,173 had to be airlifted. The efforts reached a peak with 92 rescue teams with Gemini boats deployed in a day. The aircraft were also able to undertake air sorties from daybreak to dusk without stopping.” The Western and Eastern Naval commands also participated in the operation.

Before scaling down of the operation on August 20, Indian Navy had deployed 112 rescue teams and two medical teams, 104 boats, three Dornier aircraft and 11 helicopters including — four Seaking, four ALh Dhruv and three chetak.

On August 29, chief of the Naval Staff (cNS) and chairman chiefs of Staff committee (cOSc) along with the Vice Admiral A.K. Chawla, Flag Officer Commandingin-chief, Southern Naval command (SNc) paid a visit to Muttinakam village in Varapuzha Panchayat of Ernakulam district to review flood relief and rehabilitation work being carried out.

Speaking to the people, cNS “emphasised that all naval personnel including himself were connected with Kerala by an umbilical cord with the ‘Janamabhumi’ as all personnel are trained under the SNc based at Kochi prior to becoming full-fledged naval personnel, and reiterated that he had been closely monitoring the situation over these past several days and that the Navy had deployed its personnel and assets from across the Navy during the crisis and that the focus now is on relief activities.”

Adding further he said that Indian Navy has selected two localities – Muttinakam in Varapuzha Panchayat and cheriya Kadamakudi in Kadamakudi Panchayat, based on inputs received from the local administration, wherein rehabilitation initiatives were proposed to be undertaken to restore the area. Later during the visit, cNS also handed over a cheque of ` 8.9 crore to cM Disaster Relief Fund as a voluntary contribution from the salaries of naval personnel.