The major earthquake struck Gujarat on January 26 with its epicentre 20 kms north east of Bhuj, killed thousands of people, injured thousands of people and destroyed buildings and other infrastructure. This area was last hit by a major earthquake in 1956 when the township of Anjar was razed to the ground causing complete destruction and suffering to the people. However, it goes to the credit of our people that we were able to rise and rebuild the town with courage and determination.

Lt Gen N C Vij, Southern Army Commander said in a press conference that the earthquake affected complete Gujarat and some parts of Saurashtra. But Bhuj, Anjar, Bachau, Rapar and Gandhidham have been the worst hit areas where large pockets were devastated. Armed Forces have done their best inspite of all odds to provide succour and relief to the people of Gujarat with proper co-ordination with the civil administration and NGOs.

The Army reacted instantly after the disaster had struck with all available resources. A major training exercise of Army was cancelled and troops rushed to the disaster areas. General Hospital of Bhuj was completely destroyed killing patients and the medical staff. Organised life in Bhuj and other affected areas was paralysed. The building of the Military Hospital, Bhuj, was rendered unusable, but the hospital staff rose to the occasion as it was completely flooded with injured people. The Army immediately regrouped itself to meet this catastrophe on war footing. More than 21,000 Army personnel were deployed in towns and villages of Bhuj, Ahmedabad, Dharandhara, Jamnagar, Rajkot and other affected areas in Gujarat. The Army soldiers in more than sixty columns worked day and night in rescue and relief operations.

Rescue and relief in these circumstances involved employment of medical, engineering and other resources. Such resources were mustered at short notice and brought to the disaster areas as these were not readily available with civil administration and Army. This was done by the fastest means. The Indian Air Force provided the necessary airlift round the clock. The good response from the people, government organisations, NGOs and other international agencies were creditable.

On arrival at Bhuj, the Army carried out an assessment and understood the enormity of catastrophe and evolved plans. Army saved as many lives as possible by recovering people buried under the debris of collapsed structures and rendering immediate specialist attention to those injured. The measures had been put into place and hundreds of serious patients were evacuated by air to Pune, Jamnagar, Mumbai and Vadodra with the help of Indian Air Force aircraft and Army helicopters.

Immediate check and appraisal was carried out of the airfield at Bhuj and external land links leading to the city. The airstrip and the road communications were restored. The internal roads in towns and villages which were totally blocked with debris of collapsed buildings were cleared part by part by the Army Engineers and other troops.

To provide psychological satisfaction and alleviate the trauma of the public, it was necessary to recover as many of dead as possible. The Army saved the lives of hundreds of people by extricating them alive from the debris. Thousands of dead bodies were recovered and handed over to the relatives.

Ever since January 26, the efforts to provide medical aid and engineering support have been praiseworthy. The Army made endeavour to support the civil administration by spreading to outlying villages of the disaster area besides the cities and towns. The Army cleared debris from road and tracks to facilitate relief work. Seventeen tented camps, 7 field hospitals and 8 free kitchens were established by the Army. Military Hospitals at Bhuj, Jamnagar and Ahmedabad were provided with additional doctors, staff and medicines. Over 30,000 people received medical treatment and an estimated 24,000 people were accommodated in tents spread all over the quake-hit areas.

In addition, the Army undertook measures such as assistance to servicemen and ex-servicemen, assistance to the Government and NGOs in their relief operations, assistance to the civil administration in receipt of aid from various organisations at Bhuj airfield and obtaining various details and statistics through damage assessment teams.

For getting best results in the rescue and relief operations, a close co-operation and liaison was maintained with civil administration. Establishment of Joint Control Centre, daily meeting in the Commissioner’s office, interaction with various government departments, provision of transport and assistance at the airfield for lifting of aid provided by various international agencies to the civil administration, assistance in maintenance of law and order and co-operation with media were some other measures taken by the Army.

Let us glance at how different wings of the Army played their role during the massive tragedy.

The sappers have always been the first to be requisitioned in any kind of natural calamity, be it flood in Andhra Pradesh, cyclone in Orissa, landslide in Malpa or earthquake in Gujarat. It is the sappers who perform yeoman’s services in providing succour to the unfortunate victims and the survivors. There were eight Engineer Regiments deployed in Gujarat for rescue and relief of the victims of the ‘Black Friday’.

The proof of the multifarious tasks performed by the sappers lies in the history of the Engineer Regiments deployed in the area. The 108 Engineer Regiment had just come to Pune for a well deserved break after taking part in operation Vijay in Kargil. The 13 Engineer Regiment was part of the troops deployed in Orissa for flood and cyclone relief.

The speed with which the units were inducted to Kutch region of Gujarat also has a story to tell. Units located as far away as Pune and Bhatinda were effective on January 27 itself and by January 29, all eight Engineer Regiments were effective. Indian Air Force played a crucial role in airlifting most of them to Bhuj sector.

The scope of the operation can be gauged from the fact that more than one hundred heavy equipment like bulldozers, excavators, dumpers, cranes, air compressors, generators, water purification plants, pumps and hydraulic and pneumatic tools were deployed by the sappers in Gujarat especially in Bhuj sector. In addition to this, a large number of heavy equipment were marshalled from the civil administration and other civil agencies and deployed simultaneously for rescue and relief operations.

Working tirelessly, the Sappers had, in addition to recovering thousands of dead bodies, also rescued hundreds of people alive from the debris, one of them nearly 150 hours after the earthquake. This is not only an ode to the endurance of the victims but also to the men working at great personal risk, digging through rubble, cutting into steel and concrete and working in extremely unhygienic and precarious conditions wherein a slightest mistake could bring the walls crashing on them.

Digging out the bodies of living or dead was just the tip of the iceberg as far as Sappers were concerned. The arterial road communication of the towns were restored by the regiments working round the clock. Many roads were cleared of rubble. The task was enormous especially in Anjar and the walled city of Bhuj, as the roads were narrow and totally clogged with debris. The Sappers were also engaged in providing essential services like water and electricity to the affected villages. Teams were rushed with water purification equipment to various places like Anjar and Adhoi to prevent an outbreak of epidemic.

The 237 Engineer Regiment employed four columns in four different directions in Anjar, ie Khatri Bazar, Vegar Phliya, Nawapura and Ganga Bazar. The troops of the regiment endangered their lives by moving deep inside precariously balanced concrete debris. The regiment recovered hundreds of dead bodies and valuables worth lakhs of rupees which were returned to owners.

‘Within the units it was a problem to drop a few names for rear duties because everyone wanted to be in Gujarat to help the fellow countrymen’, recalls Maj Manoj Oommen of 53 Engineer Regiment. ‘Engineering skill, ingenuity and sheer grit is what is being put to test in Gujarat’, says
Col Suresh Sharma, Commanding Officer of an Engineer Regiment. Bachau, another worst hit town, was given the fresh lease of life by an Engineer Regiment which flew from Bhatinda under the command of Col K K Tiku.

The Army Chief Engineer of Desert Corps, Brig Kiran Krishan was directing all the engineering operations. He also coordinated engineering efforts with civil administration.

Leadership at all levels is the most desirable things to act together. A glaring example of this was village Sukhpur on the outskirts of Bhuj town. Thoroughly inspired and motivated by the Army men under command of Maj R K Jindal, about 100 villagers joined in clearing their completely devastated village. Eight machines from civil department and an equal number from the Army were working day and night to restore their village to some shape.

The Sappers alongwith infantry and medical teams constituted more than 24 composite teams and fanned out into the countryside to provide on-the-spot assistance.

The 415 (I) Engineer Squadron of the Black Mace Brigade, inducted on January 28 in the area, was promptly deployed in one of the worst affected areas of Anjar. On January 29, a 15 year-old boy Kunal Mukesh Doshi was rescued. The rescue involved relentless work for nearly 17 hours by a dedicated team of the squadron. The boy’s right leg had to be amputated by a surgeon from 312 Field Ambulance under very difficult and trying circumstances. The Thumbis recovered more than 50 dead bodies. The unit was instrumental in carrying the relief work to the remote villages of Anjor Taluk in the initial stages of rescue and relief. A number of village roads and bylanes were cleared to facilitate fast relief work. In addition, the squadron distributed water and rations, created temporary accommodation and tented village schools. On a daily basis, the squadron sent three dedicated sub task forces comprising a section each with required equipment and a medical team.

The Sappers also fanned out to the interior areas like Gandhsisa, Dhori, Dhrang, Jikadi, Nagore, Mamuana, Ratnal, Adaipur, Dudhoi, Rapar, Samkhiali and Halri.

The 312 Field Ambulance under the command of Lt Col Hemant Kumar was inducted into operation Sahayata in Gujarat to provide medical cover to the affected people. The unit received orders to move on January 27. The unit established a 30-bed Forward Surgical Centre (FSC) at Anjar. A surgical team from Southern Command Hospital, Pune comprising Prem Singh Bhandari (surgeon) and Lt Col Shirish Chandra (anaesthetist) was attached to the unit immediately on arrival at Anjar.

The first surviving casualty, 45 year old Mr Gunwant Lal Mehta, recovered from the debris of a house by Army, was brought to FSC. He had multiple superficial injuries and was dehydrated. He was admitted and treated at FSC and was discharged after two days.

On January 29, some civilian rescuers approached this unit to help in extricating a 15 year-old boy named Kunal M Doshi who had been trapped in the debris of his collapsed house since January 26. The right leg of the boy was buried in the debris and could not be freed despite best efforts by civilian rescue teams. The surgical team of 312 Field Ambulance reached the site, carried out on-the-spot amputation of the right leg and extricated the boy from the debris after almost 86 hours. The act was widely appreciated. The boy had a good post-operation recovery at the FSC. He was transferred to Naval Hospital Aswini in Mumbai by an Indian Naval Ship from Kandla Port.

The unit stayed at Anjar for about three weeks and treated about 890 casualties. The doctors and other staff worked round the clock to treat patients with multiple injuries (118), fractures (95), x-rays (131), plaster of paris (89), surgeries (86), first aid and medical aid in camps (378). Medical teams were sent to different villages everyday. More than a dozen villages were provided medical cover with mobile medical teams.

As the earthquake struck Kutch on January 26, the Army Aviation Flight located at the Southern Command was called for the service. Immediately, the entire flight was mobilised for operation Sahayata. The Army Aviation helicopters were soon mobilised for a variety of tasks. Initially, survey of all the villages and towns were carried out with Task Force Commander onboard to assess the damage and move the Army columns accordingly. The scene from the top was pathetic with widespread destruction all around. Ninety to hundred percent of the houses within 100 kilometre radius from the town of Bachau were damaged. The casualties assessed initially were around 80,000 to 90,000 people buried under the debris.

While flying over the entire area, it looked as if a nuclear bomb had been dropped. It reminded one of the incident of nuclear bomb attacks on Hiroshima and Nagasaki. The only difference between the two situations was the clean breathing environment for the survivors here. The civil administration had come to a grinding halt with no basic facilities of food, water, electricity and shelters available for the survivors who had to stay hungry for days and sleep in open during the biting cold nights. Civil hospitals were buried along with the doctors and the patients, government buildings were demolished and houses of both poor and rich were brought down.

The Army Aviation flew a variety of sorties. The epicentre of the quake was discovered by the Aviation helicopters which later became the centre of attraction of all the media- persons. The initial survey carried out by the Army Aviation helicopters paid handsome dividends. The survey helped in prioritising the provision of relief to the villages. Speedy mobilisation of resources to the remote areas where no NGOs could have reached could be possible only through these sorties. It also enabled coordination of efforts of the various teams functioning in the various villages. The sorties also facilitated side-stepping and fanning out of relief teams to villages which did not receive any help at the initial stages. The flight also carried out evacuation of civil casualties. Packets of life saving drugs were delivered to remote areas where Field Ambulance was deployed. Army medical teams were carried to remote villages so that immediate resuscitation of casualties could be carried out.

During the first few weeks, all helicopters of the flight were flying from dawn to dusk carrying senior officers from the corps, command and Army Headquarters including Defence Minister. Carrying out supervision of the progress of work, giving on-the-spot decisions on various aspects and coordination of the work of the various teams were some of the responsibilties these officers assumed. As the civil administration had collapsed, the NGOs were made to report to the Army units for distributing and providing relief material. The Army teams were also engaged in carrying out assessment of the requirement of each village and town so that necessary items could be moved. Providing PR cover through media was also important to be in touch with the rest of the world. The flight maintained hundred per cent serviceability at Bhuj. The flight was geared up for all types of servicing at Bhuj itself to ensure continuous helicopter support.

The flight flew a total of 151 hours during operation Sahayata. A total of 402 sorties were flown. The entire operation remained safe. Since all the landings were carried out from the kutcha helipads, the take-off and landing techniques were slightly modified. Instead of carrying out normal take-off and landings, maximum power take-offs and steep approach with no hover landings were carried out. This ensured minimum displacement of sand during take-off and landing, thereby saving pilots from being blinded during these manoeuvres.

Flying during operation Sahayata was altogether a different ball game. Each aviator was stretched to the maximum limit. He performed extremely well during all missions keeping flight safety in mind at all times. To prevent psychological sickness, apart from other ranks the Flight Commander were turned over after 15 days. This enabled all ranks to put in their best. Whenever helicopter landed at any village, people used to gather around the helipad as they knew that some aid would be given to them. The Army helicopters became a symbol of hope and optimism in the far-flung villages where no aid could reach in time.

Motivated by the high ideals of the college, RIMC cadets also joined hands with the rest of the country. They donated one week’s pocket money. But this was not enough. The cadets wanted to render help by going there and physically serve in the ravaged areas. The trip was finally scheduled from March 16 to April 5.

The team collaborated with the Army and the local civic administration to provide relief and boost the morale of the quake victims. The important activities of the cadets were spraying DDT and sprinkling bleaching powder in Bhuj and Anjar with the material provided by the Red Cross Society. The purpose of this disinfection was to prevent the outbreak of an epidemic due to decomposition of trapped dead bodies under the debris. The cadets also helped out the local people in clearing the debris in some parts of the affected area. In Dhrang, they cleared the debris in a temple and extracted the temple utensils and rations. They cleared the construction site of a dam meant for providing water to the district of Bhuj in a village called Rudramata. In their efforts to help out the children of the quake-hit area the cadets interacted and distributed chocolates among them. They also taught in some schools which were set up in temporary structures.

During the short mission, all the cadets showed an immense sense of social responsibility, sincerity and compassion. Their visit was truly inspiring and the cadets said that given a chance they would again volunteer for such missions.

The devastating earthquake caused extensive damage not only to life and property in the Bhuj region but also ruptured communication network. The large scale damage was compounded by a total collapse of communication due to an extensive infrastructural dislocation. It was only due to Corps of Signals the world came to know about the earthquake. The Army has always risen to the occasion and got involved in the disaster relief operations within hours of the tragedy. Operation Sahayata was launched by Lt Gen N C Vij, General Officer Commanding-in-Chief, Southern Command to provide relief to the ravaged people. Maj Gen V S Budhwar, Chief of Staff, Desert Corps was made the overall Task Force Commander. Two brigades commanded by Brig S P Mehla and Brig Vijay Lakshman were deployed for the rescue and relief operations.

‘The total lack of communication infrastructure posed a major challenge which seriously hampered the collection of information and planning of relief work’ said Maj Gen L K Chopra, Chief Signal Officer, Southern Command. The Corps of Signals began operations and went about re-establishing the totally devastated communication network. In doing so Brig O P Beniwal, Chief Signal Officer of Desert Corps was made responsible to supervise the communication in Bhuj sector. The meticulous planning that had gone in for the provision of communication to Bhuj paid rich dividends. Thousands of people who lost their near and dear ones were able to communicate to the outside world.

On the day of the disaster itself, Very Small Aperture Terminals (VSAT) were used to provide immediate communications to the region. This was the only functional communication link at that time. The first official call was made from Bhuj to inform the Directorate of Military Operation about the tragedy through Army Signal Communication Network, creating a history in communication system. The top leadership of the country made use of this link to make an assessment of the post-earthquake situation in Bhuj region. Further, to supplement this communication, Inmarsat, mobile satellite communication terminals, were air-dashed to Bhuj from various parts of the country and were used to oversee the relief work. The Task Force Commander and the Brigade Commanders were also provided communications on Inmarsat.

Having taken care of the immediate communication needs, the Corps of Signals turned its attention to broad banding the communication infrastructure and to extend communications to the interiors where the Army was fanning out for relief and rescue work. Radio relay and high frequency radio detachments were despatched from Pune, Jodhpur and Ahmedabad by air. They were fully operational within few hours on their arrival on January 27.

The Corps of Signals also assisted in re-establishing the Department of Telecommunication (DoT) network. On January 28, the DOT microwave link which was lying unused for over a year was revived and two trunk lines were established from Bhuj to Pune and these were further extended to the Army exchange at Bhuj through radio relay of Army Signals. Cable routes were laid to extend local and trunk lines. Three STD junctions were also extended to provide welfare calls to the affected personnel.

Radio relay links were established to Bachau and Anjar, the worst affected areas, where Army columns are actively involved in relief and restoration work. High frequency radio nets were also established to provide mobile and back-up communications to the Army engineers and relief columns. Army signallers were working in the damaged communication complexes in a gallant attempt to restore communications.

The speedy restoration of communications of Bhuj sector with the outside world and within the region itself is a testimony to the true professionalism and dedication of the Army signallers. They worked tirelessly round the clock, without rest and sleep for days with single minded dedication to the gigantic task. The people of Bhuj will always remember contributions of the Corps Signals with gratitude. (Based on inputs from Lt Col (Dr) A K Janardhanan, and Col Arun Mamgain).