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Journalism of Courage
Disasters cannot be stopped. The world over, whether it’s Hurricane Katrina or the tsunami or the J&K earthquake, this is a reality of life. But how a country reacts depends entirely on its advancement. Fortunately, we have a well-defined set-up in India. And we in the armed forces are on the cutting edge of the delivery system along with people on the ground and the government.
When disaster strikes, as soon as we get the information, our commanders are fully empowered to put us on standby. In the case of the October 8 earthquake, our reaction was instant. Within three hours of receiving the alert, we had reached most affected areas, including Tangdhar and Uri.
By 2 pm, we had airlifted a medical team from Udhampur to Tangdhar. As a chopper pilot, there was a great sense of empowerment in being able to give the first visual assessment of the damage caused by the quake.
Flying above the areas, we were able to judge the kind of damage, whether material or human. Of course, in this case it was both. This is crucial because the civil administration reacts based on our assessment. There was human damage and material damage.
This is precisely why we initially prioritized rushing medical succour to the affected areas and evacuated casualties to field areas and hospitals. Once the injured had been rescued and given treatment, we began pumping in relief supplies in our second phase of operations.
And to its credit, the IAF had flown 497 sorties till weather packed up on October 11 evening. The force has already established an air bridge between Delhi and the Valley as supplies from Haryana and Punjab, being sent on a routine basis, picked up.
We have a fair idea of the areas worst affected and are in a position to make operations more detailed for the next phase of relief operations. Our choppers are also standing by for night operations which will speed up the overall effort.
I have witnessed the destruction of Bhuj, the tsunami and the snow tsunami. I can say now that our reaction time has decreased remarkably. This is a sure sign that we are maturing as an organisation and as a nation. However, I do believe that to be truly empowered, there are important decisions our political class can make at every level.
Real empowerment is when the country’s resources are available for whoever needs at whatever time and in the best possible way. We have a country that produces graduates by the thousands every year. Apart from the NCC, is it not possible to have batches of educated youth attaching themselves to Army or other units, to be given a valuable once-over on reacting to crisis situations.
One of our biggest problems is that we desperately need a credible reporting system on the ground. Such trained youth would be invaluable in such a situation. Empowerment will then be the seamless cohesion of the armed forces, the government, the political class, the administrations and the people, at all levels at all times.
