Neighbour sails in to boost flood relief effort

Hours after a request was made by Sri Lanka last Friday afternoon for assistance to deal with relief following the deadly flooding and mudlsides, an Indian navy ship ‘INS Kirch’ was diverted from its deployment in the Indian Ocean to Colombo.

A day after the disaster struck, the first of three Indian vessels arrived in Colombo carrying 125 personnel including diving teams and mobile medical teams.They offloaded relief supplies and inflatable Gemini boats.

“Soon after the request was made by the Sri Lankan Government, we were briefed on the current bad weather situation. A directive was issued by the Prime Minister Narendra Modi to provide assistance immediately. Arrangements were made to load relief material from the store next early morning and we started sailing,” Captain T V Sunil, commanding officer of INS Jalashwa told the Sunday Times ahead of its depar- ture on Thursday.

India was the first country to respond to the disaster. Two more Indian naval ships arrived carrying relief supplies.

The third ship, INS Jalashwa, the largest of the three and suited for providing humanitarian assistance and disaster relief, reached Colombo on Tuesday from Visakhapatnam.

INS Jalashwa, has special equipment, including landing platform/dock, disembarkation craft, helicopters, and a hospital with operating theaters and labs. Four hundred personnel were on board, along with rescue and diving teams, and inflatable boats and medical supplies.

Capt Sunil said the medical and rescue teams are capable of facing any type of disasters.

Three medical teams and four rescue teams were sent to Akuressa and Deniyaya in Matara, Divitura in Galle and worst hit areas including Bulathsinhala.

They coordinated with the Sri Lanka Navy and security forces to assist people.

For V Sharma, Sub-lieutenant of the Marine Commandos, who headed the rescue operations, it was a rare experience working with the Sri Lanka Navy.

“The Special Forces of the Sri Lanka Navy did very good job of executing the action plan. In the disaster zone, we knew where we needed to go and were were kept informed of timely developments in the surrounding areas for possible interventions,” he said.

Surgeon Commander, BVijaykumar, the chief of the three medical teams, said they treated about 700 patients in the south. “At least 20 percent of the cases had fever and the rest had skin infections.''

Ahead of their departure on Thursday, the Foreign Affairs Minister Ravi Karunayake thanked them for the assistance and said it reflected friendly bilateral ties. The Indian High Commissioner Taranjit Singh reiterated India’s support for Sri Lanka during times of crises.

An Indian Air Force aircraft was also due to deliver essential spare parts for Sri Lanka Air Force helicopters.