Colombo: Indian High Commissioner Santosh Jha Saturday met Sri Lankan corporate leaders and reiterated India’s continued support for the cyclone-hit island nation, where the disaster has claimed over 600 lives so far.
Jha’s meeting with the corporate leaders associated with the ‘Rebuilding Sri Lanka Fund’ came as Sri Lanka has been grappling with widespread flooding, landslides and severe infrastructure collapse following Cyclone Ditwah.
As many as 607 people have died so far in the disaster, which also left several districts isolated and acutely strained the country’s disaster-response capacity.
Jha met the corporate leaders to discuss the “way ahead for rehabilitation and recovery”, the Indian High Commission said in an X post.
He also briefed them on the elements of “India‘s response and continued commitment to stand by Sri Lanka in its resurgence from this crisis,” it added.
India was the first country to respond to Sri Lanka’s international appeal for assistance under its Operation Sagar Bandhu.
Its humanitarian assistance has continued across land and air, focusing on both emergency response and sustained medical care, the Indian mission said in a press release.
Since the launch of Operation Sagar Bandhu November 28, India has provided more than 58 tonnes of relief material, including dry rations, tents, tarpaulins, hygiene kits, water purification kits and around 4.5 tonnes of medicines and surgical equipment.
Another 50 tonnes of equipment, including generators, inflatable rescue boats, and Outboard Motors, have been provided, and 130 tonnes of Bailey Bridge units have been airlifted along with 31 engineers to restore critical connectivity.
Two columns of the National Disaster Response Force (NDRF), comprising 80 experts and K9 units with specially trained dogs, conducted rescue and relief operations, evacuating around 150 stranded persons.
A full-fledged field hospital with 78 medical personnel from India is now providing life-saving care in Mahiyanganaya near Kandy. Medical centres have also been set up from the BHISHM (Bharat Health Initiative for Sahyog Hita and Maitri) Arogya Maitri cubes in the badly hit Ja-Ela and Negombo.
INS Vikrant, INS Udaygiri and INS Sukanya have provided immediate rescue and relief assistance to Sri Lanka. Apart from the two Chetak helicopters deployed from INS Vikrant, two heavy-lift MI-17 helicopters of the Indian Air Force are actively involved in evacuations and airlifting relief material.
Further, about 2,500 stranded Indians were evacuated from Sri Lanka, including more than 400 on IAF aircraft.
The NDRF teams, which returned home Friday, worked closely with Sri Lankan authorities and conducted extensive search, rescue and relief operations.
The teams evacuated around 150 people, assisted vulnerable groups including pregnant women and the physically challenged, recovered the deceased, distributed over food packets, and restored safe water by de-watering contaminated wells.
Indian Air Force helicopters remain at the frontline of aerial operations, safely airlifting those affected from Kotmale to Katunayake on Thursday for further medical care and support.
Friday, Indian MI-17 helicopters evacuated 7 survivors and airlifted 9.5 tons of relief material under the coordination of Sri Lankan authorities, the Indian mission said.
