NEW DELHI- A five-day multi-national exercise organised by the Indian AirForce with the aim of sharing procedures and capabilities of air forces toimprove disaster response concluded on Friday.
Besides hosts India, the air forces of Sri Lanka, Bangladesh, Nepal and theUAE took part in the exercise titled ‘Samvedna’, which began on March 12.
The Multi Lateral Humanitarian Assistance and Disaster Relief (HADR)exercise was organised by the Southern Air Command of IAF here.
It showcased the disaster preparedness of Indian Air Force’s Rapid ActionMedical Team (RAMT) and its flying capabilities at the Air Force stationhere, a defence release said here.
In his address, Air Marshal RKS Bhadauria, Air Officer Commanding in Chief,Southern Air Command said the Air Force was invariably the first to respondduring various disasters that hit the region in the recent times.
‘Samvedna’ was the first Multilateral Air Exercise to practice and discussissues relating to such eventualities, he said.
A mass casualty demonstration by the RAMT showing evacuation by AN-32aircraft was also held, the release said.
The RAMT of Indian Air Force was equipped with modern 25 beddedtransportable tent based Medical Shelters which include ICU, OperationTheatre, X-Ray and Laboratory, which is capable of handling 100 Outpatientsper day.
The team was effectively deployed during various national and internationalHADR situations like Nepal earthquake in 2015. The RAMT also participatedin the Naval exercise ‘Milan-2018’ at Port Blair just before joining‘Samvedna’, it said.
A static display of air assets were also showcased at Air Force Station.‘Samvedna’ has enhanced HADR cooperation between Air Forces of theparticipating nations and is an initial step towards further refiningcapabilities to address disaster in the South Asian Region, the releasesaid.