India to send 80-member NDRF team for rescue in earthquake-hit Myanmar

New Delhi: An 80-member National Disaster Response Force (NDRF) team will be sent from India on Saturday to assist with rescue and search operations in earthquake-hit Myanmar, where nearly 700 people have been killed, officials familiar with the matter said.

“The team members have assembled and the equipments are being loaded. They will be flying to Myanmar within the next 1-2 hours. The team is carrying all equipment needed for the rescue and search operations there,” a senior officer, requesting anonymity, told HT.

Also Read: India delivers first consignment of relief materials to quake-hit Myanmar

The shallow 7.7-magnitude quake struck northwest of Sagaing city in central Myanmar on Friday afternoon, and was followed minutes later by a 6.7-magnitude aftershock. The tremors flattened buildings in several cities, and severe damage was reported in Mandalay, Myanmar’s second biggest city with 1.7 million residents.

Close to 700 people were killed and another 1,700 injured in Mandalay region, and 10 more deaths were reported in Thailand’s capital Bangkok.

Most of the team members are from the NDRF’s 8th battalion based in Ghaziabad, said the senior officer, adding “Many of the battalion’s members were also part of the search and rescue operations in Turkey. They will assist the authorities and begin their work as soon as they arrive in Myanmar. They are the best rescuers who were part of rescue operations in similar natural disasters before.”

Also Read: Myanmar-Thailand earthquake: India puts emergency response teams on standby

Depending on the scale of the operations and after assessing the situation on the ground, the force is likely to send more personnel, he said.

This is the third time India has sent the NDRF to assist with search and rescue operations outside the country, following the 2015 earthquake in Nepal and the 2023 earthquake in Turkey.