7 Relief Operations Of India's Armed Forces That Make Us Proud

The Indian Armed Forces are being commended for their quick and effective operations after the earthquake in Nepal. Given below, is a record of the other recent instances, from the previous and the current decades, when the Armed Forces provided relief to those in need.

1) Indian Ocean Tsunami, 2004

An earthquake struck the Indian Ocean region, with its epicentre at Banda Aceh off the western coast of Sumatra, Indonesia. It measured a destructive 9.1 on the Richter scale. The resulting tsunami wrecked great misery along the eastern coast of India.

The Indian Navy launched two simultaneous missions, “Operation Madad” for mainland rescue operations in India and “Operation Sea Waves” for rescue operations in the Andaman and Nicobar islands. The Indian Air Force reached the islands within an hour of the tsunami hitting them. The Air Force, Navy and Coast Guard helped in relief operations as well as in search and rescue.

2) Kashmir earthquake, 2005 

An earthquake measuring 7.6 on the Richter scale struck near Muzzafarabad in Pakistan-occupied-Kashmir on 8th October, 2005. More than 87,000 people were reported to have died with an additional 77,000 being injured and 2.8 million being displaced.

India sent three consignments of 25, 82 and 5 tonnes of relief materials each, including army medicines, blankets, and food packets. Border checkposts were opened for ferrying relief material.

3)Nargis, 2008 

A Very-Severe-Cyclonic-Storm, Nargis, struck Myanmar. The Indian Air Force and Navy transported more than 100 tonnes of material and aided in rescue in Myanmar.

India also requested the country to accept aid from the USA in the wake of the tragedy.

4)Himachal Pradesh and Uttarakhand floods, 2013 

A cloudburst lasting many days, over the Himalayas, caused massive flooding. Uttarakhand was the worst hit.

The Indian Air Force launched “Operation Rahat”, which saw close to 19,600 people being airlifted and 3,82,400 kg of relief material being provided.

The Indian Army, on its part, launched “Operation Ganga Prahar” followed by “Operation Surya Hope” to carry out relief missions to rescue close to 1,00,000 people. The Army launched rescue operations in the Indo-Nepal border areas as well.

5)Cyclone Hudhud, 2014

A Very-Severe-Cyclonic-Storm struck the east coast of India in October 2014. The Navy took the lead in evacuating, and providing relief to, the affected people in an operation code-named “Operation Lehar”. 

6)Jammu and Kashmir floods, 2014 

“Mission Sahayata” and “Operation Megh Rahat” were launched to rescue the stranded. 30,000 troops of the three armed forces were deployed. “Operation Sadbhavana”, to supply relief material to the affected areas, continued even after the troops pulled out.

7)Nepal earthquake, 2015

The relief operations began on the day itself with the Indian Air Force deploying the C130-J Hercules from Hindon air-base carrying NDRF personnel and tonnes of relief material. The relief and rescue operations were scaled up in the subsequent hours and days, and still continue.