The armed forces have established a control room at Joshimath and have pressed in men, equipment and helicopters to provide assistance to the civil administration in dealing with the flash floods in Uttarakhand.
At Reni village, the Army has deployed two columns from Joshimath and two columns from Auli while two more columns are on standby, an Army officer said. An engineering task force with two JCBs as well as a medical column with two ambulances have also been deployed. Two Cheetah helicopters from Army aviation have also been pressed in. A column consists of about 100 soldiers.
The Indian Air Force (IAF) has pressed in C-130 and AN-32 aircraft to transport National Disaster Response Force (NDRF) teams. “A C-130 airlifted 60 persons of NDRF along with 5 tonne load from Hindon air base to Jolly Grant airport. One more C-130 and one AN-32 are ready at Hindon for additional NDRF teams,” the officer stated.
Three IAF Mi-17 medium lift helicopters have been positioned at Jolly Grant to airlift NDRF teams to Joshimath.
The Navy has put its Special Forces, MARCOS, on standby for any contingency, with 16 personnel at New Delhi and 40 at Mumbai ready for deployment. The Army has also readied a field hospital for receiving casualties.
