Operation Dost: Final NDRF team returns from Turkey

New Delhi [India], February 19 (ANI): The final National Disaster Response Force (NDRF) team under Operation Dost returns home from Turkey after Turkish Disaster and Emergency Management Presidency (AFAD) announced the end of rescue operations.

Under Operation Dost 3 teams of 151 NDRFHQ personnel and dog squads extended assistance to earthquake-affected Turkey.

NDRF Teams executed search, rescue and relief operations including life detection in 35 worksites of Nurdagi and Antakya.

“Final NDRF team under #OperationDost returns home from Turkiye. 3 Teams of 151

@NDRFHQ personnel & dog squads extended assistance to earthquake-affected Turkiye. Teams executed search, rescue & relief operations including life detection in 35 worksites of Nurdagi & Antakya,” tweeted the Ministry of External Affairs spokesperson, Arindam Bagchi.

Meanwhile, the Turkish Disaster and Emergency Management Presidency (AFAD) on Saturday said that search and rescue operations have ended in most provinces nearly two weeks after this month’s devastating earthquakes in Turkey and Syria, reported Al Jazeera.

“The death toll due to the earthquakes rose to 40,642, and the work of searching and rescue for people stuck under the debris has ended in most of the provinces,” Yunis Sezar, head of AFAD, said in a presser.

“We believe we will end the search and rescue operations by tomorrow night,” he added.

A magnitude 7.8 earthquake struck Turkey’s southeast and neighbouring Syria on February 6, killing more than 45,000 people and leaving more than a million people homeless along with an economical cost expected to run into billions of dollars, reported Al Jazeera.

India was among the first responder to search and rescue efforts in Turkey and Syria.

India launched Operation Dost to extend assistance to Turkey as well as Syria after devastating quakes and aftershocks in the region.

The Indian Government sent tons of relief material to both Syria and Turkey in collaboration with the Indian Army as part of the Operation.

Under this, India sent relief materials to Turkey, a mobile hospital, and specialised search and rescue teams.

250 Army personnel were also deployed in the worst-hit areas of Turkey and Syria.

Three self-sustaining teams of the NDRF, numbering more than 150 specially trained personnel, along with Rambo and his friends (of the dog squad), specialised vehicles, and other supplies, also reached Turkey.

Specialised equipment and other relief materials weighing over 135 tonnes too reached Turkey.

India sent emergency medicines and equipment including portable ECG machines, patient monitors, and other essential medical items to Syria.

The NDRF teams rendered assistance in rescue operations at Gaziantep while the medical team set up the field hospital in Iskenderun.

The army field hospital in Iskenderun, Hatay, Turkey started functioning by running Medical, Surgical & Emergency Wards; X-Ray Lab & Medical Store.

When asked about sending aid to Syria when the country has been under US sanctions, the government said India follows the G-20 mantra of “One Earth, One Family, One Future.” (ANI)