Victims of flood return their home at Rakhshalana village of district Budgam. (Press Trust of India)
More than 2.34 lakh people have been so far rescued in flood-hit Jammu and Kashmir where relief and rescue operations entered the 14th day yesterday.
"Over 2,34,000 persons have been rescued so far by the armed forces and NDRF from different parts of Jammu and Kashmir in the ongoing rescue and relief operations," PRO Defence Colonel S D Goswami said in Srinagar.
Three teams of Naval Marine Commandos are actively involved in rescue operations at Watlab, Widipura and Tankpura, he said.
Colonel Goswami said as the flood water has started receding, the apprehension for water-borne diseases is rising and now demand for filtered water has increased.
20 RO plants with a capacity to filter 4 lakh litre water per day are being sent to Srinagar from Hyderabad and four RO plants with a capacity to filter 1 lakh litre per day are being sent from Delhi, he said.
13 tonnes of water-purifying tablets and six water filtration plants with a capacity to filter 1.2 lakh bottles per day have been sent to Srinagar earlier, he said, adding that more heavy duty suction pumps are being airlifted from Jodhpur and Raipur.
Sewage pumps from Delhi have been dispatched to the Valley and 30 generator sets of 3 to 5 KVA capacity have also been sent to Srinagar to ensure continuous power supply in relief camps and field hospitals.
Additional communication equipment of BSNL are being dispatched to restore the communication systems in the state, he said.
Over 33,000 blankets, donated by the Ministry of Textile, Red Cross Society and Jharkhand and Punjab governments, were airlifted to flood-affected areas yesterday, he said.
Earlier, 8,200 blankets and 1,572 tents have been provided to the flood victims. A total of 80 medical teams of the Armed Forces Medical Services are already operating in full swing.
More relief materials, including tents, water bottles and food packets are being airlifted from Delhi, Arakonam and Amritsar, he added.
Four army field hospitals have been established in Avantipur, Pattan, Anantnag and Old Airfield where medical aid is being provided to the ailing people, Col S D Goswami said and added that till now they have treated around 53,082 patients.
Two additional fully-equipped field hospitals with laboratory-testing equipment facility have also been established in Srinagar, he said.
One rapid action medical team from Air Force has been deployed at Avantipur and Srinagar, he said adding that the team has provided medical aid to 2,684 patients.