New Delhi: India, which wasted no time in rushing help to Nepal as soon as a deadly earthquake struck on April 25, has now decided to wait for Kathmandu to seek assistance after another tremor jolted the Himalayan nation on Tuesday.
According to Indian Express, senior Home Ministry officials held three meetings with officials of Prime Minister’s Office and Cabinet Secretary yesterday after a 7.3-magnitude tremor shook Nepal on Tuesday afternoon.
The government immediately put National Disaster Response Force (NDRF) and Indian Air Force (IAF) on standby in case of any emergency call from Nepal.
“We have put NDRF and IAF teams on standby. This time we have decided to wait and watch. Either we should get a request from Indian Ambassador in Nepal or the Nepalese ambassador here in Delhi. We don’t want to be seen as interfering in their work,” the daily quoted a senior official as saying.
“We have identified 12 teams of NDRF who will fly from Ghaziabad, Pune and Chennai if Nepal makes a request,” added the official.
He further said that the home secretary has instructed them that experience from last time should not be repeated.
The Nepal government had earlier asked all foreign search and rescue teams, inluding India's NDRF, in the country to wind up their relief and rescue operations and return to their respective countries.
The Indian media had also faced flak for its coverage of the disaster in Nepal with complaints in the social media that it was treating the tragedy as a "public relations exercise" on behalf of the Indian government.
