NEW DELHI, DECEMBER 26 Two hours after the earthquake off the Indonesia coast at 6.29 am, officials of the Home Ministry’s National Disaster Management Division (NDMD) trickled into North Block’s control room to work out a brief for Cabinet Secretary B.K. Chatuvedi on the unfolding disaster. Officials of the NDMD, a nodal division under the Crisis Management Group which met in the afternoon, were on their toes as the division became the logistical nerve centre of the rescue and relief efforts that New Delhi rolled out.

‘‘The first thing we did was to contact all the affected state governments and relief commissioners to set the process rolling,’’ Director (NDM-I) S.K. Swami told The Indian Express this evening. The division then ordered a reconnaissance operation over the Andaman island, reported as the worst-affected area, before establishing contact with the island’s government and assuring it that relief was on its way.

‘‘Supplies to the Andamans will begin moving tomorrow. The Coast Guards and Naval forces were deployed on rescue missions. It was complex, since Colombo and Male were also in the picture,’’ Swami said. The division recorded that around 45,000 people had been affected in the Andaman island.

In its brief for the Cabinet Secretary, the NDMD suggested that a directive be issued telling fishermen to stay away from the sea, the Defence Ministry use all its resources to despatch rescue and relief equipment, including blankets, medicines and food to the affected areas, the IAF begin airlifting supplies, Naval and Coast Guard vessels be immediately deployed in the Andaman islands, the Civil Aviation and Railway Ministries make sure flight operations and train schedules were not disrupted, and announce that Chennai would be the logistical hub for all rescue operations.

Defence Minister Pranab Mukherjee said the Navy is on the stand-by and there has been a huge disaster at Car Nicobar — 23 people, including six officers and 15 children, have died and 63 are missing. At least 1,200 survivors have gathered at the air strip. The Air Force is mobilising 50-60 choppers and 20-30 aircraft to thr Andaman Island.

Sea water in complex, Kalpakkam plant shut  

• NEW DELHI: The Kalpakkam nuclear power plant was shut down on Sunday morning after rising tides, caused by the earthquake in Indonesia, pushed sea water into the reactor complex. The Madras Atomic Power Station at Kalpakkam did not suffer any damage though the sensitive material on the campus, including waste treatment facilities and plutonium enrichment apparatus, compelled the staff to close down the reactor and seal off the complex. A 120-strong team from the Army was rushed to Kalpakkam to drain sea water from the complex. — ENS