Navy on disaster relief exercise at Karwar base
Karwar: A senior official of the Western Naval Command (WNC) on Friday reviewed the annual Joint Humanitarian Assistance and Disaster Relief (HADR) exercise at the naval base here. The exercise was reviewed by Vice Admiral Girish Luthra, Flag Officer Commanding-in-Chief of the WNC. The exercise which has been conducted by the WNC required large scale mobilisation of resources and coordination with various agencies, a naval spokesperson said.
"The exercise on a Tsunami scenario is being used to validate the resources available with various organisations and bring out common standard operating procedures," he added. Luthra, witnessed an operational demonstration and inspected the camp site at RT beach, Karwar and static display. He said, "the series of actions undertaken in the operational display were structured around how relief activities are organised.
"In a calamity like a Tsunami, the available infrastructure is expected to be disrupted. Therefore the operational demonstration started with the aerial reconnaissance mission over land and sea conducted by a naval Dornier aircraft," he added. "The aircraft also demonstrated the capability of deploying life-rafts to save people who have been washed into the sea due to a tsunami. With the information available from the Dornier mission, rescue of survivors were exercised by Chetak helicopters and boats," the spokesperson added.