India’s disaster relief operation ‘Operation Dost’ in Turkey
Recently, ‘Operation Dost’ disaster relief campaign has been launched by India after the devastating earthquake in Turkey.
On this, the Prime Minister has congratulated the members of ‘Operation Dost’, a campaign for disaster relief in Syria and Turkey.
The Prime Minister has said that whatever disaster strikes anywhere in the world, India is prepared as the first responder.
He said that India has continuously conducted similar relief and rescue operations at many places.
India’s Humanitarian Assistance and Disaster Relief (HADR) activities:
- Maldives was helped to deal with water crisis in 2014;
- In the year 2015, an earthquake relief and rescue operation was carried out in Nepal;
- Vaccine diplomacy has been adopted after Kovid-19;
- ‘Operation Ganga’ was conducted to rescue students from Ukraine etc.
- India also helped in the reconstruction of its neighboring country after the Sri Lankan civil war. Also, humanitarian aid was also delivered through several peacekeeping missions.
- India’s diplomacy with HADR capabilities is guided by the philosophy of Vasudhaiva Kutumbakam. This diplomacy has become widespread in recent years.
Advantages of Disaster Diplomacy:
- Improves bilateral relations and strengthens India’s image as a facilitator of developing countries.
- It shows India’s reach and capability as a first responder to global crises.
- India’s extensive relief and rescue operation after the 2004 tsunami is an example of this.
- Helps in capacity building at the level of people to people interactions.
- Builds capacity and skills to cope with the increasing number of disasters due to climate change.
Limitations of disaster diplomacy-
- The National Disaster Response Force (NDRF) has limited resources and manpower.
- The long-term impact of disaster diplomacy has been limited. For example, in 2015, India-Nepal relations remained strained even after helping in the earthquake disaster.
Source – The Hindu
