IAF airlifts 96 tonnes of relief material for Assam, Meghalaya

GUWAHATI: The Indian Air Force (IAF) has airlifted at least 96 tonnes of relief material on Saturday using the aerial platforms in continuation with its humanitarian assistance and disaster relief (HADR) operation in Assam and Meghalaya, the IAF said on Sunday.

"In continuation of HADR efforts to provide relief and succour in Assam and Meghalaya, IAF has airlifted 96 Ton of relief material on 25 Jun 2022 using various aerial platforms, flying 37 hours in 46 sorties," the IAF tweeted.

According to the IAF, they have been conducting flood relief operations in Assam and Meghalaya since June 21.

"Continuing its efforts to provide relief to the flood-affected populace of Assam and Meghalaya since past 4 days, IAF has airlifted 203 Tonnes of relief material in 74 HADR missions while also rescuing 253 stranded personnel utilising various helicopter and transport aircraft," it said in another tweet.

The IAF had utilised C-130, An-32, Mi 17V5, Mi 171V, Mi17s and ALH extensively for continuing its flood relief operations in Assam and Meghalaya The Indian Air Force (IAF) has flown around 74 missions, rescued 253 persons who were stranded in the flood in Assam and have dropped over 200 tonnes of relief material as part of humanitarian assistance and disaster relief (HADR) operation to the state, IAF informed on Saturday.

Meanwhile, the Assam State Disaster Management Authority (ASDMA) on Saturday had informed that the overall flood situation in Assam has improved but over 33.03 lakh people in 28 districts continue to remain affected due to the natural calamity in the state.

According to ASDMA, a total of 117 people have lost their lives till then due to the flood and landslides in the state this year; of which 100 people died in floods alone, while the remaining 17 died of landslides.

As per the reports, at least 10 people, including four children died after drowning in the flood water in the last 24 hours on Saturday.

The report also stated that 8.76 lakh people have been affected in Barpeta district alone, followed by 5.08 lakh people in Nagaon, 4.01 lakh in Kamrup, 2.76 lakh people in Cachar, 2.16 in Karimganj, 1.84 lakh in Dhubri, and 1.70 lakh people have been affected in the Darrang district of Assam.

Notably, 3,510 villages under 93 revenue circles of the state and nearly 91,700 hectares of cropland are still reeling under the flood water.

2,65,788 people affected by flood water are still lodged in 717 relief camps set up by the administration of 22 districts in the state, ASDMA reported.

Two drones have been deployed in Silchar of Cachar district for carrying out the flood inundation mapping as well as to provide the relief materials in the inaccessible areas. 85.2 MT of GR items including packaged drinking water, rice, etc. have been air transported from Guwahati and Jorhat to Silchar.

The National Disaster Response Force (NDRF) personnel along with SDRF, Fire and Emergency personnel, Police Force and AAPDA MITRA volunteers are helping the district administrations in the rescue operation and relief distributions.