Soon after the occurrence of landslides in Wayanad on 30 July 2024, the Army, Navy, Air Force and Coast Guard (ICG) began disaster relief operations. ICG District Headquarters, Kerala & Mahe and ICG Station, Beypore dispatched Disaster Relief Teams to the affected area to provide immediate relief and support to the people impacted bythe disaster. The teams were equipped with essential disaster relief materials such as rubber inflatable boats, diesel-driven pumps, life jackets, raincoats, gum boots and earth-clearing equipment forclearing debris and accessing affected areas.
Additionally, ICG dispatched food materials, drinking water, and other essential supplies to support the affected population. These supplies were coordinated inliaison with the District Disaster Management Team to ensure distribution. The Relief Team also included a dedicated Medical Detachment. Despite inclement weather and difficult terrain condition owing to the landslides, the Armed Forces Detachments pitched into relief operations. The Indian Navy began the rescue and relief operations with personnel, stores, resources and essential supplies mobilised from INS Zamorin (part of Indian Naval Academy, Ezhimala, Kannur District, Kerala), to augment the relief efforts and support local community impacted by the disaster.
The Teams were deployed at multiple locations in Chooralmala and Mundakkai areas and are working hand in hand with the Disaster Relief Forces and local administration. One of the Teams was deployed at a river base for maintaining continuous supply of material, food and provisions to the affected people while the other Teams were deployed for search of survivors, clearing of debris and recovery of bodies. A Medical Post was set up at Chooralmala for providing medical assistance to the injured.
The Army’s Madras Engineering Group (MEG)or Madras Sappers constructed a crucial Bailey Bridge over the river connecting the regions of Chooralmala and Mundakkai which were isolated by the landslides on 01 August2024. The Bridge became the backbone of logistics support enabling movement of heavy machinery and ambulances.
On 02 August 24, Indian Navy’s Advanced Light Helicopter (ALH) of INS Garuda operating from Calicut undertook aerial recce of the affected areas for survivors and locating bodies. The helicopter airlifted 12 State Police personnel along with rescue equipment to the disaster locations, which were inaccessible by road. The sortie was conducted over the hilly terrain in low visibility and challenging weather conditions.
The Indian Navy working closely in coordination with the local administration ensured quick evacuation of stranded people, provisions of basic amenities and medical aid. On 03 August 2024, in a remarkable display of coordination and bravery,the ICG, Indian Army, and Air Force successfully rescued three persons stranded at Soojipara Waterfalls, about 35 kms from Wayanad. During their morning combing operation along the riverbanks from Mundakai to Soojipara, the ICG Search Team sighted three individuals stranded near the waterfalls and immediately informed the Control Centre at Mepadi. Soon after, a coordinated land and air rescue operation was swiftly launched, involving ICG, Army, and IAF teams utilizing both ground and aerial resources, resulting in the safe rescue of all three individuals.
Lieutenant General S Ravi Shankar (Retd), former DG, Border Roads, was kind enough to share the details of this vital bridging operation with this writer. The most impressive and crucial task during the disaster relief operations was the launch of the Bailey Bridge, spanning 190 ft (57m), in record time, connecting Chooranmala and Mundakkai hamlets, to speed up rescue operations after the area was devastated by unprecedented landslides followed by floods, has caught theattention of the nation for more than one reason.
The equipment, including 80 tons of steel, with more than 300 major parts and innumerable bracing-members, connecting pins and fasteners, was moved from MEG Centre Bangalore to the Chooramal site by trucks, achallenging logistics exercise carried out with military precision. The Bridge was designed after a spot reconnaissance by the Team and launched as a continuous span of 57 meters, improvising for the tight ‘back space’ using an intermediate pier at 15 meters from one end. Work was carried out tirelessly round the clock by the Task Force, and the Bridge was completed in 30 hours.
What became a reason for special attention was that the Sappers were led by a Lady Officer, Major Sita Ashok Shelke. This single lady in a 150 strong Team of Madras Sappers, worked hands-on with the ‘Thambi’s’ during the construction, after planning the move of stores, approving the design and ensuring a safe, speedy launch. If the men kept awake for two nights, her responsibility required an even longer spell without sleep. The picture of this lady officer standing on the truss of the Triple Single, 3metres wide bridge, captioned by the media as the Wonder Woman of Wayanad, went viral.
The earlier bridge in the location, since the 1940s, a 27.5 meter, twin span RCC bridge, 5.5 meter wide and capable of taking up to 100 tons load was washed away in the deluge, with no trace left. The gapwidened to over 50m and is now covered by the new 57 meter Bailey Bridge, with a 3 meters wide roadway, supported with the intermediate pier, to enable it to take 24 tons. It allowed relief material, storesmachinery and manpower to cross, limited by the maximum load. The Bridge is still vulnerable to increase in water-levels following heavy rains in the catchment area and so protective-work using gabions (cages, cylinders or boxes filled with rocks, concrete, or sometimes sand and soil for use in civil engineering, road building), are being made with the help of local authorities, to protect the pier and bank-seats.
Provision to anchor the Bridge against lateral pressure of water will be an additional safety. “The response by the Army was commendable, improvising as best as they could and quite effectively too, using the available vintage Bailey Bridge equipment. The Bailey Bridge is a first-Generation Modular Steel Panel Bridge (MSPB), considered amongst the three
greatest technical advances that helped win World War II, along with radars, and heavy bombers. Connectivity is the most critical requirement in any Disaster Relief Operation and the Bailey Bridge continues to be used in such cases for emergency response. The world has since moved on to 3rd Gen MSPBs, capable of spanning 60m (200 feet), carrying 100 tons loads, and being launched as fast and with lesser manpower.
The Ministry of Roads and Transport and Highways is urgently considering a policy for stocking such Bridges closer to where there is likely to be required in such emergencies. This will make emergency response more resilient in disasters, allow the option of use of a MSPB both as a permanent and a temporary Bridge to carry the heaviest of axle loads and machinery presently carried on National Highways,” said Lieutenant General Ravi Shankar (Retd).
Brigadier AP Singh (Retd), another veteran Sapper who followed this operation is reported to have said in praise of the Army Engineers personnel, “Hail to the Sappers at their best! Don’t invite actors and Instagram celebrities as special guests in colleges. Encourage the students by inviting the ones who have served the nation in times of crisis like this.”
Work by all Armed Forces detachments is continuing in Wayanad. Yet again what emerges is that despite creating national organisations for disaster relief, the Armed Forces are still indispensable.
