For Amarjit,one of the 74 survivors of the building collapse in Jalandhar late Sunday night,Havaldar Ajay Singh and Constable Munish Kumar of the National Disaster Response Force (NDRF) are a godsend. If these two men hadnt acted quickly and cut his foot off to free him from under tonnes of debris,Amarjit wouldnt have survived. Stationed at Bathinda,some 200 km from Jalandhar,the jawans of 7th NDRF were woken up around 1.30 a.m. by a loud siren that pierced the silence of the night. We were part of zero hour duty that day,when a team is kept on standby. Members of the zero-hour team sleep in their uniform with most of their equipment already loaded in the trucks. From the moment the siren goes off,we have at the most 10 minutes to get into the trucks. During the day,this period reduces to five minutes. Once in the trucks,we are briefed about the disaster,the site and what we have to do, says Ajay. Each unit of the NDRF has 45 members. The 7th NDRF originally belongs to the Indo-Tibetan Border Police. The unit is divided into four teamstwo for action,one medical team and one for administration. Members of the action team work in pairs and Ajay and Munish make one such pair. By 6.30 a.m.,they were at the site. Within minutes,their seniors gave them the plan. Armed with bolt cutters,reciprocating saws,hammers and chisels,Ajay and Munish began chipping away at a huge pillar. We could hear voices from behind this pillar. We managed to make a 10-foot-long hole and crawled inside. Soon we came face to face with this labourer who was sitting on a chair. He had been buried for more than 30 hours. He cried for help and I told him not to worry. This labourer,Amarjit,asked us to cut off his foot which was trapped under the debris. We wanted to save his foot but we soon realised it would not be possible, says Ajay. A medical team was called in and they administered Amarjit anesthesia before cutting his foot. They managed to cut the skin but could not break the bone. I took a chisel and hammer and crushed the bone. He lost one foot but managed to survive, says Munish. However,the challenge did not end thereAmarjit had to be pulled out of the debris. We could not give him any more anesthesia for he would have fainted and bringing out a limp body through a tunnel where one can only crawl,is very difficult. So we decided to keep Amarjit awake and told him to bear the pain. Ajay began pulling Amarjit while I stayed at the rear,pushing him forward, says Munish. Amarjit finally came out and Ajay and Munish turned their attention to the others trapped inside. They worked continuously for the next 48 hours. Ajay and Munish say they hardly think about themselves when they are saving lives. When we bring out a person alive,the feeling we have is too deep and intense to explain, says Munish. Ajay and Munish say they want to make the most of their five-year stint with NDRF since they will be sent back to their parent units after their term ends. Rescuing people from all kinds of disasters has helped us grow personally. Saving someone from the jaws of death is a humbling experience. Witnessing disasters has also taught us to stay happy and feel blessed about every moment we get to live. NDRF is not just a professional stint. Its a life-changing experience, says Munish,before climbing the huge pile of debris to join the other rescue teams.
