Inside Army's 'Hifazat' Exercise To Combat J&K's Natural Disaster Risks

Against the backdrop of cloudbursts and flash floods that have scarred Jammu and Kashmir's mountains with alarming regularity, the Indian Army's exercise 'Hifazat' unfolded at Rajouri district's Naushera area today.

A Humanitarian Assistance and Disaster Relief (HADR) exercise, Hifazat seeks to forge seamless coordination among the Army, Police, NDRF, SDRF, civil administration, and locals, testing response mechanisms for the cloudbursts and deluges forecast in the days ahead.

The urgency is rooted in history. In the last 48 hours, Kishtwar and Doda have endured three devastating cloudbursts, while Reasi has repeatedly borne the brunt of flash floods. Landslides have become a seasonal spectre across the region's hilly spine. 

"Exercise Hifazat is the answer to that threat: a mock demonstration of unity when nature turns hostile," said one of the senior officers.

The drill included an operation that involved rotors slicing through the mountainous valley. An Army helicopter hovered perilously low, its downdraft whipping the river into frenzy as a winch line was lowered.

Suspended between sky and torrent, a critically injured civilian was hoisted skyward - a tableau of precision where pilots risked their lives to rescue the civilian.

Not far away, a zip line spanned a swollen stream. NDRF personnel, soaked to the bone, rigged the line with practised urgency, transferring mock casualties from one bank to the other in minutes.

"In real disasters, those minutes decide who reaches a hospital alive," said one of the SDRF officers who was also part of this mock drill.

In the next drill, soldiers waded into the gushing current, locking arms to form a human shield against the stream. They guided, pulled and at times carried the stranded to safety. "This is where training meets instinct," said a senior officer. "The stream doesn't wait. Neither can we."

The exercise also simulated the grimmest scenarios: roads washed away by flash floods and villages marooned on cliff edges. Here, rescue squads rappelled down sheer rock faces, ropes their only lifeline, to reach civilians cut off from the world. Elsewhere, lifeboats carved paths through submerged terrain, evacuating families clinging to rooftops and treetops.

In Naushera today, the Army, police, disaster forces, administrators and ordinary citizens moved as one body proving that in the face of calamity, preparedness is the highest form of compassion.