Indian
army started a twitter service sometime in 2012., I am their follower
on tweeter and important bits of information sometimes comes through.
During the relief operations, which are being carried out in
Himalayas for flood affected victims, army has sent stream of tweets
along with pictures and videos every day, explaining the relief work
that they have been doing on that day. From the tweets it is possible
to imagine the vastness of this operation and the efficiency with
which army is carrying it out.
It
began on 17th
June 2013, when first tweet appeared which said:
“ADG
PI - INDIAN ARMY ADG PI - INDIAN ARMY @adgpi 17 Jun
A
Column each of Army deployed in Rudra Prayag, Govind Ghat &
Hemkund Sahib, Uttrakhand today morning for #floodrelief operations.”
Since
this tweet, army has been sending tweets continuously, explaining
what they are doing. After a couple of days, it became impossible for
me to keep track of Army operations as the operation was so enormous.
I thought that it would be easy to follow up with Google earth and
here is the result.
The
first image shows four main areas where the army has been helping
trapped people. These areas are
Rishikesh-Uttarkashi-Harsil-Gangotri; Rudraprayag-Kedarnath;
Joshimath-Badrinath and Dharchula-Tawaghat in Pithoragarh district.
The total area covered is about 225 Km in along northeast and about
140 Km along north east: or about 32000 sq. Km spread from Nepal
border to Tibet border. The Army has mobilised nearly 8,100 troops,
as it simultaneously reached out to thousands of stranded people in
four regions.
Over
next few days, they tried everything they could. On 17th-18th
June, the Army opened
the road up to Uttarkashi after clearing 16 landslips. It has also
opened the road up to Sonprayag in the Kedarnath region after the
successful launch of a bridge across the Vasuki Ganga between
Mundkatiya and Sonprayag. As many as 2,500 stranded people were
evacuated from Sonprayag. In these 2 or 3 days The army manged to
rescue around 11,000 people, mainly from Govindghat and Harsil and
around 10,000 people were provided food and medical assistance.
Troops
skilled in mountain rescue operations, including paratroopers, were
heli dropped to reach out to the people stranded in isolated areas
along the Kedarnath and Badrinath region as the Kedarnath shrine was
totally cut off, especially the stretch between Gourikund and
Sonprayag, Army's newly formed air wing performed very well and
effectively with its HAL-built Dhruv Advanced Light Helicopters,
which can carry 10-16 people on heights of 10,000 feet. In all 11
helicopters were used and on 17th
June itself 50 sorties were carried out.
The
army was able to deploy 10 Specialised Mountaineering Teams in the
worst-hit Kedarnath area and set up relief camps at Harsil,
Joshimath, Rudraprayag and Gauchar Advanced Landing Grounds.. The
Army also built a helipad at Lambaghat school at Govindghat. Since
bridges on Alaknanda river were damaged efforts continued to repair
the bridges over Alaknanda between Govindghat and Ghagria on Hemkund
Sahib road. In Darchula sector 2 babies were even delivered by army
doctors.
On
21st
June the army confirmed with this tweet that
14,500
people rescued by Army in Uttarakhand #Floodrelief
This
gigantic and Herculean humanitarian effort still continues as in some inaccessible
pockets, people still remain trapped. Along with the tweets, army has
sent number of photographs and videos, which give an idea of the
stupendous work done by the Army. The army deserves full complements
not only from the flood affected but all citizens of India. A great
job well done!
26
June 2013
thank you for posting this.
ReplyDeleteYashodhara
DeleteThanks for your comment.