NEW DELHI, Oct. 10 (Xinhua) -- Indian Navy's eastern naval command (ENC) is well prepared in advance to render necessary humanitarian assistance, said naval sources Wednesday, even as the severe cyclone named "Titli" is expected to hit the country's eastern state of Odisha in the early hours of Thursday.
India Navy's ships are standing by to proceed to the most affected areas to undertake humanitarian assistance and distress relief (HADR), evacuation, logistic support like providing medical aid, said an official statement issued in New Delhi.
Additional divers, doctors, inflatable rubber boats and relief material that include food, tents, clothes, medicines, blankets etc, in sufficient quantities have been kept standby for embarkation, added the statement.
The severe cyclone formed over West Central Bay of Bengal is poised to make landfall over the country's eastern coast between Kalingapatnam and Gopalpur areas.
The ENC is said to be monitoring the developments closely, and is in constant communication with the Odisha state's administration to augment the rescue and relief operations.
Aircraft are standing by at the naval air station INS Dega to undertake reconnaissance, rescue, casualty evacuation and air drop of relief material to the stranded as required, added the statement
Meanwhile, fishermen have been advised not to venture into northern coastal parts of the southern state Andhra Pradesh and Odisha's south-coast in view of the deteriorating weather conditions in the area with winds gusting over 100 kilometers per hour and heavy rainfall expected on Thursday.
Local government officials in Odisha said that people in five coastal districts were being moved to safer places after the storm intensified, even as state Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik called a meeting of senior officials Wednesday afternoon to take stock of the preparedness ahead of the cyclone.
As many as six teams of the Centre's national disaster response force (NDRF) and 11 teams of Odisha's disaster rapid action force have also been positioned at different places for rescue operations.
