Role of Armed Forces During a Disaster Situation

The military forces or defense forces or armed forces play a very important role during disaster situation and also in the post-disaster scenario. Their main assets are: discipline, training, professionalism, specialized equipment, resources and above all a minimum response time. Generally, they are called upon to manage the following tasks:

i. Evacuation

ii. Maintenance of essential services

iii. Distributing of essential supplies in remove and marooned areas.

iv. Transport of relief material

v. Medical aid

vi. Management of relief camps

Role of Para-Military Forces

In the earlier days, Military i.e., the Armed Forces used to take care of the outside enemies and conventional police used to look after internal security and law and order. With the growth of population and new activities resulting in the need for specialized security services to valuable sectors such as the borders, the industry, vital installations etc., it became necessary to create a variety of paramilitary forces under the Government of India. More prominent of these paramilitary forces are:

a) Border Security Force (BSF)

b) Central Reserve Police Force (CRPF)

c) Central Industrial Security Force (CISF)

d) Indo Tibet Border Police (ITBP)

e) Railway Protection Force (RPF)

f) Assam Rifles

g) National Security Guard (NSG)

h) Coast Guard

i) Rapid Action Force (RAF)

j) Territorial Army

Important point to note is that the Police Force is under control of the respective State Administration while all the paramilitary Forces including the "Civil Defense Organization" are under the control of Government of India and these are deployed to assist the local police whenever necessary.

Apart from their primary role as their name, implies-e.g., BSF guards the borders, CISF takes care of Central Public Sector undertakings including their security and fire fighting, and all the Para-Military Forces are deployed in the troubled areas or during major national event like General/State Elections.

The Coast Guard is a special duty force for guarding the coasts and to deal with undesirable activities such as smuggling on the coasts,

Special Roles of Air Force, Army and Navy

Armed Forces and paramilitary forces play important roles in disaster situations as described below:

Special Role of Air Force:

During emergencies for heavy troop movement be it Army Personnel or paramilitary forces - the Transport wing of Air Force is called in, .in a big way, The helicopters of Air Force are used for survey and cropping of food packets together with rescuing of stranded people, especially in flood situations. Air Force also has the responsibility of VIP/VVIP movement.

Special Role of Army:

The local Army commander, anywhere in the country has orders from Ministry of Defense, to assist the civil authorities during any contingency. For this, however, only the District collector has the authority to requisition the aid of military and that too in extreme emergencies, on a written request. In riot-affected cities, places, Army Flag March - only parading is arranged in order to deter anti-social elements indulging in further trouble and to pacify common population by boosting their morale for peace and assurance of their safety and security.