Mild tremors were felt in Delhi-NCR on Wednesday afternoon as an earthquake of 4.8 magnitude hit Nepal.
The earthquake struck 69 km from Jumla in Nepal. According to reports, the depth of the quake was 10 km and occurred at around 1.30 pm
A paramedic leaving her 18-month twins behind to serve the call of duty, officials processing hundreds of documents to prepare more than 140 passports overnight and rescuers not being to able to take a bath for 10 days, the NDRF’s mission in quake-hit Turkey was full of challenges — emotional, professional and personal.
They returned to India after the difficult mission, a part of their heart still thinking if “we could have saved more lives”, yet a part filled with the love and affection they received from the affected people, one of whom, grieving the death of wife and three children, ensured Deputy Commandant Deepak got his vegetarian food wherever he was deployed.
“Anything vegetarian he had like an apple or a tomato. He peppered it with salt or local spices to make it tasty.” Deepak said he was deeply moved by what Ahmed was doing for him.
The entry of the 152-members three National Disaster Response Force (NDRF) teams and six canines into the disaster zone was swift, and their exit “moving and emotional”. They said they developed a bond with the people they helped during their most vulnerable times.
Many Turkey nationals shed tears of thanks and gratitude to their ‘Hindustani’ friends and ‘Biradars’ who came in as saviours and took the combat patches and other military decorations from the uniforms of the Indian rescuers.
The federal contingency force that began its operation on February 7, rescued two young girls alive and retrieved 85 bodies from the debris before they returned to India last week. Prime Minister Narendra Modi felicitated them on Monday at his official residence at 7, Lok Kalyan Marg.
More than 44,000 people have been killed in the massive 7.8-magnitude earthquake and series of strong aftershocks that struck parts of Turkiye and neighbouring Syria on February 6 flattening thousands of buildings and homes.
“The Consular Passport and Visa (CPV) division of the Ministry of External Affairs prepared passports for our rescuers overnight. They processed hundreds of documents in minutes as the Indian government directed the NDRF to proceed to Turkiye,” NDRF Inspector General (IG) N S Bundela told reporters here.
Another officer said out of the 152, only a few officers had a diplomatic passport ready to travel to a foreign land, and hundreds of documents were sent in from NDRF teams in Kolkata and Varanasi over fax and email to be processed for making of the passports.
