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Minutes after Saturday’s earthquake, Prime Minister Narendra Modi took charge of managing the fallout, making a telephone call to Nepal Prime Minister Sushil Koirala, who is travelling abroad, as well as to Ram Baran Yadav, the president of that country. This was followed by the PM calling the chief ministers of Uttar Pradesh, Bihar, West Bengal, Sikkim and Madhya Pradesh.
Modi launched a multi-pronged management outreach. After a preliminary assessment of the post-disaster requirements, he asked all his ministers from Bihar to contact their constituencies. Minister of state for parliamentary affairs, Rajiv Pratap Rudy, was the first off the mark, speaking to several officials in the state government, including Bihar power secretary Pratyay Amrit.
Ram Kumar Sharma, the MP from Sitamarhi (Bihar), which is closest to the Nepal border, was immediately contacted by the Prime Minister’s Office and asked what help was needed in his constituency. Sharma is from the Rashtriya Lok Samata Party, part of the National Democratic Alliance.
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A few hours later, the PM convened a meeting of PMO officials, as well as various ministers. Finance Minister Arun Jaitley; Home Minister Rajnath Singh; National Security Advisor Ajit Doval; Nripendra Misra, principal secretary to the PM; P K Mishra, additional principal secretary to the PM; and senior officials from the government, the India Meteorological Department and the National Disaster Relief Force attended the meeting.
Subsequently, the external affairs ministry was asked to set up a round-the-clock control room and arrange for a military transport aircraft to carry essential supplies and medical teams to Nepal, as well the areas hit in India.
The PM also reviewed arrangements to evacuate stranded tourists. Minister of state for external affairs, V K Singh, who played a major role in the evacuation of Indians from crisis-torn Yemen, was once again tapped for relief operations in Nepal.
The Union government’s crisis management committee, which met twice on Saturday, has been asked to be on stand-by.
Nepal’s ambassador-designate in Delhi, Deep Kumar Upadhyay, thanked India for offering help.
“We have been in touch with Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Home Minister Rajnath Singh. Our president is in touch with them and they have offered to help us. On behalf of Nepal, I thank India for assisting us,” he said, adding his country needed mobile medical assistant units from India, among other help.
PM Modi has extensive experience in coordinating earthquake relief measures: He was appointed chief minister of Gujarat in 2001, soon after a devastating earthquake in Bhuj and Kutch, which killed about 20,000 people. Then chief minister Keshubhai Patel was replaced on the orders of then prime minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee. He was replaced by Modi, following reports of lapses in governance and poor relief and rehabilitation measures.
Now, Bhuj is often cited as one of the best models of post-earthquake reconstruction, largely due to Modi’s efforts.
