Indian Army Returns After Providing Relief In Turkey
The Indian Army’s medical team deployed in Turkey under 'Operation Dost' touched down in India on Feb. 20 Photo: Indian Express
After providing extensive services and aid to the Iskenderun region after an earthquake struck the area, the Indian Army’s medical team is returning back home. India launched “Operation Dost” as a means of extending assistance to Turkey and Syria after both nations were impacted by the devastating earthquake that hit on Feb. 6. The earthquake caused over 30,000 casualties, prompting the United Nations’ urgent relief teams to take immediate action in finding displaced persons as well as initiating rehabilitation programs.
The Indian army set up 60 field hospitals, which provided temporary mobile medical units that assisted with urgent care casualties on site. Additionally, teams executed search, rescue, and relief operations including life detection in 25 worksites of Nurdağı & Antakya. In order to tangibly implement these rescue efforts, the Indian army also sent relief materials and medicines to Syria along with their rescue teams.
The Indian army’s “Operation Dost '' aimed to help every facet of destruction which Syria and Turkey faced after the 7.8 magnitude earthquake hit the region, leaving thousands homeless as buildings collapsed. The operation aimed to provide medical facilities, rescue teams, and equipment to carry out rescue operations.
By Feb. 8, exactly two days after the earthquake struck, the Indian army took charge. Some of the resources provided were relief materials, three rescue teams of the National Disaster Response Force, four canines and seven trucks filled with medical equipment. Medicines and rescue equipment was airlifted from India to Turkey by heavy lift aircraft Indian Air Force (IAF) C-17 from Ghaziabad’s Hindon air base. By the next day, the army field hospital, set up by the Indian Army in Iskenderun, was equipped with an X-Ray lab, emergency wards, and a medical store started operating 24 hours every day to provide medical support to those affected by the catastrophic events.
The aftereffects of the devastating earthquake in Turkey and Syria, Photo: Sergey Ponomarev/The New York Times
Additionally, India also sent dog squads and special vehicles in order to enhance the detection processes for rescuing individuals stuck in the ruble. India’s NDRF team rescued a six year-old girl on Thursday stuck in rubble in Nurdagi, Gaziantep. Rescue efforts continue to prove challenging given the brutal weather conditions, yet the Indian Army worked alongside Turkish teams and have rescued over 8,000 survivors.
India’s assistance to Turkey comes at a critical time as Turkey’s steady support for Pakistan, particularly on the Kashmir issue, has been a source of strain in relations between India and Turkey. Moreover, Ankara has been critical of Prime Minister Narendra Modi's withdrawal of Kashmir’s special status. However, Sheshdari Chari, an Indian politician and foreign policy analyst, shared that India’s soft power approach is the ability to reach out to people and countries abroad using tools such as humanitarian assistance instead of coercion. Chari highlighted India’s strategic response to the earthquake as a means of maintaining international ties with Turkey and Syria by providing humanitarian aid and relief to the region.
The vast loss of resources, life, and property caused by the earthquake immediately led to medical shortages in the region. Thus, by providing medical assistance, the Indian army alleviated some governmental pressure by operating on over 3,600 patients which entailed providing both major and minor surgeries.
As climate change continues to amplify the intensity of natural disasters globally, nations must be equipped to tackle the overnight tragedies which follow. The executed search, rescue, and relief operations including life detection in 35 worksites of Nurdağı & Antakya became an immediate priority of the Indian Army and their role in the international community. As the Indian Army got ready to return home after completing “Operation Dost,” Turkish citizens bid an emotional farewell to the medical team as they were departing from Turkey after rendering assistance and disaster relief to the quake-ravaged country.