Cyclone Hudhud: Armed forces ready for rescue operations in AP, Odisha

Hyderabad: Indian armed forces have repositioned their assets and waiting for the civil administration’s directions to launch rescue and relief operations in the cyclone affected regions of Andhra Pradesh and Odisha. The Andhra Sub Area of the army has deployed four teams at Vishakhapatnam and four teams at Srikakulam. The army has established a disaster management cell at Air Defence College, Gopalpur. Six teams and ten sub teams have been deployed for road opening and launching rescue and relief operations at Gopalpur. It has also kept 25 rescue teams and two engineer task forces on standby at Ranchi, Allahabad and Secunderabad, said a defence release. The navy has also positioned its assets and personnel in some of the important areas of the two states including Chilka and Vishakhapatnam, for relief and rescue operation, which will be coordinated by naval officers-in-charge, Odisha and Andhra Pradesh, respectively. It has kept 30 diving teams with Gemini craft and associated equipment, 20 rescue teams, four ships with medical bricks and medical stores, six helicopters and two fixed winged aircrafts and two medical teams ready at Vishakhapatnam for undertaking rescue and relief operations. [caption id=“attachment_1754027” align=“alignleft” width=“380”] A boy plays on the beach as waves break on the Bay of Bengal coast near Gopalpur, in Ganjam district, 140 kilometers (87 miles) south of Bhubaneswar. AP[/caption] The Indian Air Force (IAF) has kept one IL-76, one C-17 and five AN-32 aircraft ready at Chandigarh, Delhi, Jorhat and Agra. Keeping the rescue operations in mind it has kept in standby mode three Chetak helicopters at Hakimpet, one medium light helicopter (Mi-8) at Yelahanka and ten medium light helicopters (Mi-17) at Nagpur, Hyderabad, Kalaikunda, Suratgarh, Bagdogra and Barrackpore. Indian Coast Guard has also deployed 17 ships, two Air Cushion Vessels (ACVs) and 13 aircraft to augment the rescue and relief operations, wherever required. Out of 17 ships, six ships and five aircraft have been stationed at Chennai, three ships at Kakinada, three at Vishakhapatnam, four ships at Paradip, one ship, two ACVs and four aircraft at Haldia and four aircraft at Kolkata. Three rescue teams are on standby at Vishakhapatnam, Kakinada and Gopalpur. IANS