NEW DELHI, Dec 2: National Disaster Response Force (NDRF) rescuers have saved more than 90 people affected by landslides or floods in Sri Lanka that has been hit by the devastating Cyclone Ditwah, officials said on Tuesday.
India had sent two teams of the federal contingency force, comprising 80 personnel and four dogs, as part of Operation Sagar Bandhu to initiate relief-and-rescue measures in the affected areas of its southern maritime neighbour.
“The NDRF rescuers are deployed in landslide- and flood-affected areas of Kaduwela, Badulla and Puttalam. The teams have rescued a total of 64 people, evacuated 28 and retrieved a body till early Tuesday,” an official told PTI.
The teams are assisted by Sri Lankan security forces and administration officials and they have also distributed about 800 food packets among 1,070 locals, the officials said.The force has retrieved a body from Badulla from under five feet of debris, they added.
The NDRF personnel have also rescued a nine-month pregnant woman from Puttalam.
There are four women rescuers in the 80-member NDRF team and they have been tasked with specifically assisting local women, the officials said.
The Disaster Management Centre (DMC) based in Colombo has confirmed at least 410 deaths and 336 people missing till Tuesday morning in the catastrophic floods and landslides caused by extreme weather conditions since November 16.
9-MONTH PREGNANT WOMAN RESCUED
A nine-month pregnant woman was safely evacuated and provided urgent medical care by India’s disaster response force in Sri Lanka, as New Delhi intensified rescue and relief operations across the cyclone-hit island nation, the Indian mission here said on Tuesday.In a social media post, the Indian High Commission said a nine-month pregnant woman in Puttalam district was safely evacuated and given medical care by the National Disaster Response Force (NDRF).
“Operation Sagar Bandhu continues to stand by those who need it the most,” it said.Search operations for missing persons continued in Badulla, where NDRF teams recovered one deceased individual from beneath more than five feet of debris in a complex effort. (PTI)
