NDRF personnel deployed to rescue quake-hit Turkey land in India

GHAZIABAD: The forty-seven-member team of the National Disaster Response Force (NDRF) arrived in the country on Friday after conducting the 10-day-long rescue operation in the earthquake hit Turkey.

The NDRF team has come back along with the dog squad members Rambo and Honey.Talking to ANI, Sub-Inspector of NDRF, Shivani Agrawal said that the team worked to help the affected persons and also extended them emotional support.

"My whole team has returned. The team included five women as well. The earthquake has devastated Turkey and the situation is very serious. We have worked as a team to help the affected persons and supported them emotionally," NDRF Sub-Inspector Shivani Agrawal said. The NDRF personnel were warmly welcomed at Adana Airpot after they returned from rescue and search operations in various earthquake-hit areas of Turkey.The team had made an all-out effort to save lives and find a living soul in the rubble at the disaster site at Nurdagi and in different parts of Turkey which were badly affected by the earthquake on February 6.

A six-story building collapsed and turned into rubble at the Nurdagi site where the NDRF conducted search and rescue operations after the locals informed NDRF about surviving victims inside the debris, dog squad members Julie and Romeo were tasked to locate the surviving victims.

The specially trained Labrador breed dog squad, which is an expert in sniffing and other key skills during rescue operations in disaster-hit regions, left India on Tuesday for Turkey with two separate teams of NDRF-- a 51-member team which arrived there in the morning and another 50-member team which reached by the evening.

While India's National Disaster Response Force miraculously rescued a six-year-old girl and made headlines, a lot of the credit for the daring rescue ought to be reserved for 'Romeo' and 'Julie', part of the NDRF's dog squad.

Romeo and Julie succeeded where machines failed. The dog squad was instrumental in detecting the little girl's whereabouts under tonnes of rubble. Without their help, the little girl could not have survived.

India announced 'Operation Dost' shortly after the magnitude 7.8 quake-ravaged Turkey and sent a team from the Indian Army to set up 60 Para Field Hospital and the NDRF for search and rescue operations, including relief and humanitarian assistance to the 'Dost' country.As Turkey continues to grapple with life in the aftermath of the earthquakes, help has been pouring in from all over the world.

India has also sent relief material to Turkey and also dispatched National Disaster Response Force (NDRF) team to assist in the rescue operations.The death toll from the earthquakes in Turkey and northwestern Syria has surpassed 41,000 as rescue efforts continue, Voice of America (VOA) reported.

Meanwhile, Union Health Ministry has provided life-saving humanitarian medical Assistance to quake-hit Turkey and Syria under 'Operation Dost.' Union Minister of Health and Family Welfare Mansukh Mandaviya said that India is helping Turkey and Syria with medical equipment, and critical care drugs.

Taking to his official Twitter handle, Mansukh Mandaviya stated, "India is helping Syria and Turkey with the concept of Vasudhaiva Kutumbakam. @MoHFW_India provided life-saving emergency medicines, protective items, medical equipment, critical care drugs, etc as part of India's efforts to provide humanitarian assistance to Turkey and Syria."