India has ramped up its humanitarian mission to cyclone-hit Sri Lanka under Operation Sagar Bandhu, with the Indian Air Force lying a 65-tonne Bailey bridge to Colombo to restore connectivity in devastated regions.
Helicopters are being used to airlift people stranded in Uttarkashi, Uttarakhand, following flash floods and landslides. Rescue operations are ongoing, with hundreds evacuated and efforts underway to restore connectivity and power.
The multi-agency search operation to trace 33 missing persons in cloudburst-hit Kishtwar district in Jammu and Kashmir has entered its eighth day. The death toll stands at 65, and rescue efforts are ongoing with the help of multiple agencies and heavy machinery.
The landslide, which occurred at 7 pm on Sunday near Lachen town in Mangan district, was triggered by heavy rainfall in the area.
While two bodies were recovered on Wednesday, the death toll climbed to four on Thursday after the recovery of two more bodies from the Indira Priyadarshini Hydroelectric project site in Kangra district.
Rescue operations in Kerala's Wayanad district resumed on Thursday, marking one of the largest efforts to save those stranded by the landslides that have hit the region.
Modi also visited one of the relief camps, which is home to many of those displaced in the massive landslides, and interacted with some of the survivors, including two children who lost their loved ones in the disaster that has claimed over 200 lives.
Kerala Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan on Thursday said the rescue mission in the landslide-hit Mundakkai region of Wayanad could take a few more days, and appointed a cabinet sub-committee of four ministers to coordinate the rescue efforts.
'It was a war-like situation, but instead of enemy fire, we fought against the vagaries of nature,' says Major Seeta Shelke.
Besides the police and fire force personnel, volunteers of various service and youth outfits, survivors of the landslides and kin of the victims also became part of the search operations.
In Kerala's society, known for its high material standard of living, plunging into a state of having nothing overnight can be terrible for one's social standing and sense of self-esteem. Rehabilitation entails piecing a community back together after a disturbance and while its aim is noble, the act of reassembling will bring alive disparities and inequalities, explains Shyam G Menon.
When the landslide hit, Sruthi's house was washed away, along with its inhabitants. She lost her entire family and some relatives. All she had left for a close confidante was her fiance Jenson. Days after the landslide and the loss of her family, Jenson died in a road accident that also left Sruthi with serious injuries. News of the accident and Sruthi's backdrop as the lone surviving member of a family wiped out in the July landslide, was picked up by the media, and people rushed to help.
As the devastating landslides ravaged a hilly area of Wayanad, leaving a trail of destruction and chaos in their wake, a group of ham radio enthusiasts rose to the challenge, establishing a critical communication network that has helped save lives and facilitate rescue efforts.
Rescue teams on Friday used GPS coordinates from aerial drone pictures and cell phones, including the last location of people who lived in the landslides-hit areas of Wayanad to help locate survivors, amidst accelerated search operations after the completion of the 190-foot-long Bailey bridge by the Army.
The construction of a Bailey bridge to connect the landslide-hit areas, where several people are believed to be stranded, alongside the deployment of sniffer dogs and over 1,000 rescuers from Central and state emergency response teams conducting massive search operations, constitutes one of the largest rescue efforts in the Wayanad, devastated by a deadly calamity.
The death toll in the devastating landslides in Kerala's Wayanad district rose to 167 on Wednesday, while 191 were missing even as the rescue teams intensified efforts to find survivors trapped under the debris on the second day of the search operations.
When it comes to the Congress and Wayanad, the only way the scepticism in the minds of some in Kerala may be addressed is by the Gandhi family proving that they are more than a passing caravan in town, reports Shyam G Menon.
Five people were killed and about 50 missing following several incidents of cloudburst in Himachal Pradesh where rains washed away many houses, bridges and roads, officials said on Thursday.
'Except that the population was much less.' 'I remember my uncle and family moving away from the base of a hill whenever it rained for more than a couple of days without a dry day in between.' 'Perhaps the older generations knew if it rained for more than a certain time, they must pack up to a camp or to a relative.' 'As some of the interviews of the survivors on the Malayalam television channels show, the elderly people had a premonition a tragedy would happen, and those who acted on those premonitions survived.'
'It is a breathtaking journey towards the Tibet border, especially since the Border Road Organisation has accomplished a fabulous feat in black-topping the road till the border.' 'One is left with a salute for the dauntless Indian soldiers who spend the winter in these majestic, though inhospitable areas (we were told that the temperature comes down to minus 40 in winter),' recounts Claude Arpi.
The release of water from the Chungthang dam led to a sudden increase in water levels up to 15-20 feet high downstream, defence spokesperson Lt Col Mahendra Rawat said.
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The weight-bearing capacity of the bridge was 18 tonne while the combined weight of the JCB machine and the truck was 26 tonnes.
'We have to be prepared on the borders to withstand Chinese expansionist designs.'
Everybody knows what's happening. How I feel is not important. How the people are feeling is important'
It took seven years and Rs. 5 crore for a company to build a Foot Over Bridge (FOB) near the Jawaharlal Nehru Stadium, which then collapsed. The Indian Army, which was called in to salvage the Delhi's pride and build a temporary FOB, has done the same job in four days flat and at a fraction of the original cost.
In the last five years, 37 bridges have collapsed in Uttarakhand. Another 27 bridges are on the brink of collapse. 'Our politicians don't view these bridge collapses as a setback.' 'Rather they see them as an opportunity to make more money.'
On till February 21, the 'Surya Kiran' series of exercises are aimed at enhancing inter-operability between the Indian and the Nepalese Army units in jungle warfare and counter terrorism operations in the mountainous terrain. The training also focuses on humanitarian aid and disaster relief, including medical and aviation support.
'These combat engineer units are used in war for building bridges for advancing troops.' 'Instead of training by building bridges over the Mula and Mutha rivers in Pune, they will practice by building bridges in Mumbai,' Indian Army chief General Bipin Rawat tells Ajai Shukla.
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