Vice Admiral Girish Luthra, Flag Officer Commanding-in-Chief, Western Naval Command, reviewed the three-day Annual Joint Humanitarian Assistance and Disaster Relief (HADR) Exercise at Karwar naval base which concluded on Saturday. The exercise, conducted by the Western Naval Command of the Indian Navy, required large-scale mobilisation of resources and coordination with various agencies.
The exercise on a tsunami scenario is being used to validate the resources available with various organisations and bring out common standard operating procedures. Vice Admiral Luthra witnessed an operational demonstration and inspected the camp site at RT Beach, Karwar, and static display.
The series of actions undertaken in the operational display were structured around how relief activities are organised. In a calamity like a tsunami, the available infrastructure is expected to be disrupted. Therefore the operational demonstration started with the aerial reconnaissance mission over land and sea conducted by a Naval Dornier aircraft. The aircraft also demonstrated the capability of deploying life-rafts to save people who have been washed into the sea due to a tsunami. With the information available from the Dornier mission, rescue of survivors was effected by Chetak helicopters and boats.
The static display focused on type of relief material provided ashore by various organisations. Stalls by Army, Navy, Air Force, Armed Forces Medical Corps, National Disaster Relief Force, state and district administration, BSNL and Red Cross provided a glimpse of what to expect from other organisations to the participants of the exercise.