The conduct of relief and rescue operations during the Nepal earthquake was a demanding task for the NDRF with new challenges emerging every day, a book written by the chief of country's premier disaster combat force on the devastating temblor has said.
The earthquake that hit the neighbouring country on April 25 killed nearly 9,000 people and injured 22,000 others and, as a goodwill gesture, India sent over a dozen NDRF teams to quickly launch rescue operations and provide succour to the numerous trapped.
National Disaster Response Force (NDRF) Director General O P Singh, who himself supervised the operation from the spot, has written about the entire operation in a book titled: 'Nepal Bhookamp: Zindagi ki Talaash' (Nepal Earthquake: Search for Life).
The 246-page book chronicles the operation undertaken by the NDRF from the word go, with Singh getting the first call from his control room informing about a quake in the eastern part of India as he was attending an event in the national capital chaired by Prime Minister Narendra Modi.
The book, written by Singh and another NDRF officer Nishith Upadhyay, talks about the massive operation carried out by a total of 76 rescue teams from 31 countries, out of which 16 were from India (NDRF).
"During an earthquake the first day is very crucial from the point of view of conducting relief and rescue operations. As the days pass, the challenges reduce. But, during the Nepal quake, there were challenges every day," the book says recounting the magnitude of task at hand.
Soon after landing in Kathmandu, the teams fanned out to multiple locations in the capital city and areas like Sitapaila, Lalitpur and others to conduct immediate operations to find out the trapped and alive victims.
The book refers to some of the challenges like cracking open the debris of concrete and stabilising crumbling structures that the force had to undertake in order to rescue trapped people on one hand and provide medical care and essential items like food and water on the other.
The force, at the end of the operation, brought out 11 victims alive apart from 133 bodies from 86 different locations.
"I hope that the book is not only useful for people who love Nepal or researchers who work on subjects like earthquake but it is for every person. If we are able to reduce even a small fraction of damage during a future disaster, then the effort of writing this book would be considered successful," Singh said.
