Indian Army signallers re-connected a broken optical fibre cable in Sri Lanka’s Mahiyangana area as part of relief operations in the island after Cyclone Ditwah, the Indian High Commission said.
The Indian relief team also operated a field hospital in Mahiyangana, which is between Kandy and Baddula towns. Badulla and Kandy districts were among the hardest hit by Cyclone Ditwah.
The fibre cable had been damaged by a falling tree in the wake of the cyclone, causing a large communication black-out in the area.
“To re-establish the connectivity, Indian Army signallers carried out precise OFC splicing near the BTS tower located close to the Field Hospital,” the High Commission said.
Cyclone Ditwah broke fibre backbone in a dozen places put several thousand base transceiver towers out of commission due to power failure.
The Indian field hospital had treated around 1,000 to 1,200 patients daily.
The medical team performed 513 minor procedures, conducted 14 major surgeries as part of treating patients.
The team returned to India in an Indian Air Force C-17 Globemaster aircraft on December 14.
The aircraft also brought to Sri Lanka, 10 tonnes of essential medicines and 15 tonnes of dry rations, at the request of the Government of Sri Lanka.