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India has sent a team of engineers from the Indian Power Grid to Nepal, hit by a massive earthquake on Saturday, to restore power supply, Foreign Secretary S Jaishankar told reporters here on Monday.
A team from Indian Oil Corporation is going to Nepal to provide fuel supplies, he added. “The operations, which started day before yesterday (Saturday), continue to go forward. We are looking at sending four more air force flights. They will be carrying more relief materials. Today (Monday) we would have 1,600 Indians who would be brought back.”
India has already sent four air force flights with relief material. The material consists of medical, food and clothing items. Among the injured Indians, the elderly, women and children are being given priority to board the planes.
“We are functioning under severe constraints,” said Jaishankar. He said the weather conditions were not conducive enough for the air force to carry out rescue operations. The government has also sent helicopters to Pokhara to drop relief materials there. Pokhara was near the epicentre of the earthquake.
More helicopters are on the way and some are on standby, Defence Secretary R K Mathur said.
According to the home ministry, so far 72 people have been reported dead in India, in the earthquake that rattled parts of Delhi, Uttar Pradesh, Bihar and West Bengal. The government has also set up a national disaster helpline number – 011-1078 – for those impacted by and are searching for their family members.
Meanwhile, Congress president Sonia Gandhi has written to Nepal Prime Minister Sushil Koirala expressing her grief and condolences for the victims of the tragedy.
The health ministry, on the other hand, has sent a 34-member team to Nepal consisting of doctors and technicians, including 15 tonnes of medical supplies.
"On the directives of Health Minister JP Nadda, a team comprising experts from AIIMS, Safdarjung Hospital and public health specialists in the ministry is being sent to Nepal to assess the health aspects arising out of large-scale morbidity and mortality," stated a release.
