Indian government Sunday dispatched more troops and rescue equipment to flood-ravaged Indian-controlled Kashmir where hundreds of people have died and tens of thousands of people have been marooned by turbulent waters.
Seventy boats and five teams of the National Disaster Response Force (NDRF) have been sent to the region for the rescue and relief of flood-affected people, after Prime Minister Narendra Modi inspected the disaster area and called it "national level disaster."
The authorities were sending 70 boats and more bulldozers to rescue people and clear landslide-hit roads.
"I would like to assure the people of the state that it is not their crisis alone. It is a crisis for the whole country," Modi said. "Many houses have been destroyed. We are speeding work to provide 5,000 tents in flood-hit areas."
The prime minister also sent 10 billion rupees (16 million U.S. dollars) of extra aid to the region hit by a flood which the authorities said was unprecedented in 60 years.
"This is an unprecedented situation and we are doing the best we can under the circumstances. Please don't panic, we will reach you, I promise," the chief minister of Indian-controlled Kashmir Abdullah wrote on his Twitter account.
A Xinhua reporter based in Srinagar went missing for three days after going to see his family in a small town near Srinagar. A Xinhua photographer in Srinagar said he has lost touch with his family for three days.
Control rooms are being set up at Srinagar, Jammu and New Delhi to monitor and coordinate the rescue and relief operations, said Indian officials.
The Indian Air Force airlifts 180 soldiers from flood-hit border posts along line-of-control bordering Pakistan-controlled Kashmir.
India also offered to extend all possible help to the flood- affected people in Pakistan-controlled Kashmir, also ravaged by the deluge.
"India will never hesitate from doing work of humanity," Modi said during the aerial tour, accompanied by army chief General Dalbir Singh Suhag.
At least 160 people have died of flood-related incidents in the past several days across the region, while 2,500 villages were flooded, some completely under water. Hundreds of bridges and hundreds of kilometers of road were damaged by the water.
The Indian Air Force Sunday began a massive aerial relief and rescue operation in flood-affected regions of the state.
The government has also directed officials to repair roads leading to the northern part of the region, so that food and other livelihood supplies could be sent before the state gets cut off at the onset of local winter.
"A total of 850 personnel have been airlifted so far in the flood-affected regions of the state," a defense ministry statement said.
"One C-17 Globemaster aircraft has been launched from Delhi to Awantipur with RAMT (Rapid Action Medical Team), two IL-76 aircraft with medical supplies and boats have taken off from Palam Air Force Base for Srinagar," it said, adding that a total of 26 IAF helicopters are also operating in the floot-hit regions.
Meanwhile, radio transmission in the Kashmir Valley was cut off after flood waters inundated the transmitter installations of the state-run Radio Kashmir in Srinagar, officials said.
Swirling waters also inundated an Indian Army cantonment, a civil secretariat office headquarters and the High Court in Srinagar, the summer capital of Indian-controlled Kashmir.