New Delhi, February 9
A rescue team of the National Disaster Response Force (NDRF) rescued a six-year-old girl from under the debris at Gaziantep in quake-hit Turkey on Thursday. India has sent three teams of the NDRF to Turkey for rescue and relief operations.
“Standing with Turkey in this natural calamity. India’s NDRF HQ is carrying out rescue and relief operations at ground zero. Team IND-11 successfully retrieved a six-year-old girl from Nurdagi, Gaziantep, today,” the spokesperson of the Ministry of Home Affairs tweeted, along with a video of the girl and how she was rescued.
Union Home Minister Amit Shah tweeted, “In the rescue operations in Turkey, Team IND-11 saved the life of a six-year-old girl, Beren, in Gaziantep city. Under the guidance of PM Modi, we are committed to making the NDRF world’s leading disaster response force.”
India has launched “Operation Dost” to extend assistance to Turkey as well as Syria following Monday’s devastating earthquake that has killed more than 19,300 persons in the two countries so far. Meanwhile, a field hospital set up by the Indian Army in Hatay province in Turkey has become operational with surgical and emergency wards.
Help under ‘Operation Dost’
- 5 C-17 IAF aircraft
- 135 tonnes relief material
- 3 NDRF teams
- 250 personnel
- 7 four-wheeled vehicles, trucks
- 4 canines
- 19,300 Turkey, Syria quake toll
Syrian Prez slams west for politics over aid
- Twitter suspended verified account of Syrian President Bashar al-Assad after he criticised West’s withholding of aid to his country while generously sending it to fellow NATO member Turkey
- “The West says they didn’t send aid because Syria didn’t ask for it. Are the pictures not enough? Or do they want Syrian people to beg on broken legs?” he said in a tweet
- India, Iran, Iraq, Algeria, the UAE, Lebanon, Jordan and Saudi Arabia have promptly send aid to both Turkey and Syria. tns