Why the NDRF finds rescue ops in Nepal difficult

The National Disaster Relief Force on Monday said conducting salvage operations in the earthquake-hit Himalayan country is becoming a ‘time consuming’ affair as the collapse pattern of the buildings in Kathmandu is much different and unique from what the force has experienced earlier.

NDRF Director General P Singh, who has been camping in Kathmandu since Sunday to coordinate efforts between Indian rescuers and those from the Nepalese side, said the operations here are tougher than what his men did to ensure relief and rescue in the flood-hit areas of Kashmir valley last year. 

"The retrieval of the alive or dead is a difficult task in Nepal and it is taking time. This is because the collapse of the standing structures and buildings is different from what we have seen in India. The buildings have gone down badly and we have to drill holes in maximum number of cases to go through concrete slabs or walls and get inside the rubble," Singh told PTI. 

Meanwhile, NDRF personnel retrieved 11 people alive and recovered sixty bodies from the debris in Kathmandu. A total 10 NDRF teams, with 45 personnel in each, are now in the quake-struck nation to undertake rescue operations.

Six more are scheduled to reach Kathmandu soon. The DG, who has supervised the operations of this special force during the floods in Jammu and Kashmir last year, said the task is tougher and more challenging there. 

“I would say this assignment is much tougher than what we did in Kashmir. Why I say this is because the roads are blocked at many places and we are taking time even to reach the affected spot," he said.

Singh, who went to a number of locations in the athmandu Valley and at the TribhuvanInternationalAirport, said ‘people were very scared’ as the nature's fury was being witnessed continuously in the form of intermittent rains and aftershocks.

"We propose to go to more areas. But that is only possible when our teams get air-borne which is not possible as of now," he said.

"We have begun day and night operations now. I hope the weather helps us and we can do as much as we can," he said. A control room has also been activated by the force in 

coordination with other agencies like the Indian Air Force and Indian Army at the airport to get in touch with their bases in New Delhi and other places.

A contingent of the force has also been based at the airport to help stranded Indians undertake a quick air evacuation, he said.