The relief operations by the Navy to cope up with the devastation brought about by the Tsunami are continuing for the tenth day.  As on date, 29 ships, 21 helicopters and 05 fixed wing aircraft are deployed for the relief operations.  More than 5000 naval personnel belonging to these ships as well as naval bases are contributing to bring succour to the populace in the affected areas.   The naval aircraft have undertaken over 250 hours of flying for SAR/Relief operations since 26 Dec 04.  Approximately 560 Tons of relief supplies (like Tents, portable generators, Reverse Osmosis Plants, Blankets, etc), 240 Tons of provisions and 10 Tons of medicines have been delivered by the naval ships and aircraft to the affected areas.

Andaman & Nicobar Islands (Op SEA WAVES)

INS Brahmaputra and INS Sharabh (LST) with 85 tons of provisions embarked are being deployed to A & N Islands. INS Sandhayak (Survey Ship) is on passage to the Southern Group of A&N Islands.  The ship is carrying relief material including desalination and water purifying plants (02 RO plants) along with mobile generator sets (03 x 45 KVA and 05 x 35 KVA). INS Darshak (Survey Ship) is also headed for the A & N Islands with relief material/medicines including five portable generators.  INS Nirdeshak, (Hospital Ship) is proceeding to Southern Group of A&N Islands and will be calling at Chennai enroute for loading of relief material.

Nancowry.  IN Ships Magar, Tillanchang and LCU 34 are operating off Chowra Island for relief operations.  About 765 kg of provisions and 160 kg of medicines were supplied by the ships to various relief camps in the Nancowry group of islands.  INS Gharial arrived at Nancowry from Campbell Bay AM 04 Jan 05 to augment relief effort. The ships have set up relief camps at following locations:-

• Base camp with nine tents and one Medical Camp off Bangala Village.
• One camp at Kalasi, 5 Kms from Bangala.
• Two Camps at Minyuk, 9 Km from Bangala.
• Two camps for the survivors from Larsi village.
• One camp at Alunag, 15 Km from Bangala. 

INS Rajput operated off Great Nicobar Island and Little Nicobar Islands along with IN Ships Gharial and Cheetah. These ships continued with relief operations such as evacuation of personnel from inundated settlements.  The ships provided 16 tons of rice, 1.7 tons of sugar, 750 kgs of biscuits and 15 tarpaulins which was distributed amongst the needy people. 500 personnel were also evacuated to safer areas.

LCU 39 conducted survey of passenger and break water jetties at Car Nicobar and also disembarked relief stores.

East Coast (Op MADAD)

Tamil Nadu Coast. 

Chennai. The diving operations by IN Diving Team to clear obstructions in Chennai port are continuing.

Vellar River. Diving operations are also continuing in Velar River near Nagapattinam to clear debris, removal of fishing nets stuck on the pillars of the bridge and retrieval of dead bodies.

Nagapattinam. IN Ships Ranjit and Khanjar continued to operate relief camps at Nagapattinam.  Medical Camps established at Neela Dathi, Sri Perumal Temple and Nagore Durgah continue to treat patients. In addition roving medical teams treated patients at Naluvedapatty, Pushpavanam and Vamana Mahadeva. The numbers of Tsunami affected patients are reported to be reducing at the Medical Camps and patients with routine ailments are reporting for treatment. The civil administration has sought medical assistance in the other affected villages on the coast. 

Assistance to Sri Lanka (Op RAINBOW)

Galle.  IN Ships Jamuna (Hospital Ship), Sarvekshak (Survey Ship) with relief supplies, medical teams and Army composite team (81 Army personnel) and Sutlej were deployed off Galle, Hambantota and Matara along the Southern Coast of Sri Lanka for diving/survey/relief/harbour clearance operations.   After extensive survey, debris clearance and removal of many wrecks by the Indian Naval teams the Galle port is planned to be operationalised on 04 Jan 05.  IN Ships Sarvekshak and Sutlej are scheduled to enter Galle port on 04 Jan 05 to mark the opening of the port.  The event is eagerly awaited by the port authorities and other associated officials of Sri Lankan Government.  During the operationalisation process, the IN ships undertook the following activities:-

• Repeated side scan of underwater obstructions to ascertain position and minimum depth.
• Extensive diving operations with seven Gemini’s and 25 divers at locations where obstructions were observed by side scanning.  Obstructions cleared including floating the sunken trawler (using drums) at the harbour entry point.
• Meeting with Harbour Master for working out the plan for operationalising the Galle harbour with effect from 04 Jan 05.

The Army composite team from INS Sarvekshak has been deployed at HQ Southern Naval Base at Boossa.  The tasks undertaken by the composite team include:-

• Restoration of water supply lines.
• Repair and replacement of plumbing.
• Restoration of power supply in certain residential areas.
• Repairs to a few buildings and wooden structures.
• Repair of faulty telecom systems at a few areas by Signals personnel.

Debris Clearance.    Debris clearance was undertaken by a team comprising of eight officers and fifty sailors from the ships.   

Medical Camps.  Medical camps conducted by Naval personnel are operating at the following locations:-

• One medical team, airlifted from Kochi, continues to be  employed with Sri Lankan Army Military Engineering Regiment in Embilipitiya near Hambantota and are attending to casualties since 26 Dec 04.
• IN Ships Sutlej and Sarvekshak are operating two medical camps in Galle and treated about 300 patients, yesterday.
• Two Medical Officers and Medical Assistants from INS Kirch have been deployed at Kinniya in Trincomalee district.
• Six Medical Officers and 12 Medical Assistants from INS Aditya have been deployed in Batticaloa area.

Aircraft Detachment. An aircraft detachment comprising one Dornier and one Islander aircraft continues to be deployed at Ratmalana Airbase near Colombo since 30 Dec 04.  The aircraft were employed for following relief operations :-

• Ferry of 11 personnel of SL Air Force Fire Fighting Team and 150 Kg relief material from Colombo to Koggala. 
• Ferry of 13 Doctors from Colombo to Ampara relief camp. 

Helicopter Operations.  Three Chetak helicopters from IN Ships Jamuna, Sarvekshak and Sutlej ferried medical and relief stores from ships to SLNS Boossa (Sri Lankan Naval Base).

Trincomalee 

Relief Camp at Trincomalee.   A relief camp comprising five officers and 57 sailors has been established at Trincomalee for coordination of relief work and providing medical and technical assistance to the Sri Lankan Govt/ Navy.  The personnel for setting up the camp have been drawn up from Eastern Naval Command, Visakhapatnam and equipped with portable equipment and engineering support tools.

INS Kirch (Corvette) with relief supplies is at Trincomalee.  One team of three officers and 25 sailors have been deployed at SL Naval Base at Nilaveli for pumping out water from wells, using portable pumps so as to restore drinking water supply.   A medical camp continues to operate at Muttur and a team of three Medical Officers and 10 Medical Assistants at Kiniya Government Hospital are conducting relief operations in the affected area. 

High Commissioner of India in Sri Lanka visited INS Kirch at Trincomalee on 03 Jan 05.

Relief Assistance to Maldives (Op CASTOR)

CGS Sagar had carried 80 tons of relief material from Male for distribution to other islands.  The ship disembarked relief stores at Diyamigli Island in Kolumadulu Atoll and was subsequently tasked to disembark relief material at Khadhoo Island.  On completion the ship will proceed to Huvadu Atoll.

Indonesia (Op GAMBHIR)

IN Ships Nirupak (Hospital Ship) with Chetak helo and Khukri (Corvette) are on passage to Indonesia.  Approximately 40 Tons of relief supplies and approximately 03 Tons of medicines/medical stores are embarked onboard the two ships.  The ships are scheduled to arrive off Banda Aceh, Indonesia on 04 Jan 05 and will operate off Meulaboh port on the West coast of Indonesia.