Shillong, June 08: The Indian Air Force is always at the forefront of Humanitarian and Disaster Relief (HADR). This was reiterated at the just-concluded three-day exercise organised by HQ Eastern Air Command at the Advanced Landing Ground, Upper Shillong here on Thursday.
On 07 Jun 17, a mock drill simulating a Level-II disaster was organised. During this exercise the capabilities of various Central and State agencies were demonstrated. Amongst them were Armed Forces, NE Space Applications Centre, NDRF, SDRF, State Police, Traffic Police, State Emergency operations centre, State and private hospitals Medical teams.
IAF also demonstrated the capabilities of CASEVAC, Bambi bucket fire fighting operations, winching ops and dropping of food packets. Medical services of IAF also displayed its Patient Transportation Unit (PTU) with a capability and transferring of critically ill casualties. The Critical Care Air Transport Team creates a virtual ICU in the air.
The HADR – 2017, with a setting in Shillong area, under the aegis of Air Officer Commanding-in-Chief, Eastern Air Command has galvanised all stakeholders in unified HADR efforts. The inaugural session chaired by the honourable Chief Minister of Meghalaya underlined the importance of HADR in this disaster prone state.
Eastern Air Command continues to enhance its capability and infrastructure in its area of responsibility for Air Operations. The state agencies are also enhancing their capabilities to be self reliant in responding to crises and emergencies. The exercise proved to be a very good platform to evolve synergy amongst all State agencies and Armed Forces in disaster management scenarios.
