The Indian Armed Forces call it Operation Sea Wave -- the largest peacetime operation ever undertaken by the Indian Army, Indian Navy and Indian Air Force.

The operation is being conducted by the Integrated Defence Staff, India's attempt at integrating the three services' higher command that will eventually lead to the post of a Chief of Defence Staff. Till date, due to inter-services differences, the government has yet to announce a CDS, a four-star rank (general, admiral or air chief marshal) officer who would be the key advisor to the government on defence matters.

In the interregnum, the government created an Integrated Defence Staff, headed by a three-star chief (lieutenant general, vice-admiral or air marshal). The first Chief of Integrated Services, officially known as the Chief of Integrated Staff to the Chairman, Joint Chiefs of Staff, was Lieutenant General Pankaj Joshi.

Coincidentally, the current Chief of Integrated Staff is Vice-Admiral Raman Puri at a time when the Indian Navy is playing the leading role in Operation Sea Wave. Operation Sea Wave has been the Integrated Defence Staff's baptism.

Operation Sea Wave's major thrust is also in the Andaman and Nicobar Islands where India's first Triservice Command was set up a few years ago. The current Commander-in-Chief, Andaman and Nicobar Command (CINCAN), is Lieutenant General B S Thakur, while his chief of staff is Rear Admiral Rakesh Kala.

"Though the event is a terrible tragedy, it has given the IDS a chance to find out its ability to operate and coordinate efforts," said a source in the armed forces.

He said the deployment of men and material is almost the same as it would be during war with the exception of guns and ammunition. "There is no gunfire, no ammunition involved in a peacetime relief operation which would be there during a war. So there is no fear of suffering casualties. But in other aspects, it is the same as it is during a war," he added.

"In emotional terms, relief operations are very painful. We see so much death and tragedy, thus for the men it is an experience to control their emotions," he added.

Operation Sea Wave is the armed forces' largest peacetime operation, involving 4,000 military personnel. Some 30 ships, 30 helicopters and 25 large transport aircraft have been deployed to assist the relief work.

Indian Navy and Coast Guard ships ferry huge amounts of food, water, medicines, and necessary equipment while the Indian Air Force evacuates survivors, the injured and drops urgent relief supplies.

With the effort now moving towards rehabilitation, the Indian Army has begun the tasks of rebuilding bridges and repairing roads while helping the civilian authorities dispose the dead as quickly as possible to prevent the start and spread of epidemics.

To give readers an idea of the size of Operation Sea Wave, consider just the operation in the Andaman and Nicobar islands, the worst affected region, from December 26 to December 28:

Aircraft and sorties undertaken: four IL-76, 11 sorties; six AN-32, 32 sorties; four Dornier and four Chetak helicopters, sorties as required by ANC (Andaman and Nicobar Command).

Relief material airlifted: 1 team of Indo-Tibetan Border Police, a paramilitary (50 personnel); 1 team of army engineers (90 men); 200 tons of relief including rations, communications sets, blankets, generators, water jerricans, pumping sents, tents, etc.

Relief material airdropped: Food and water by the Dornier at Hutbay and Campbell Bay (the latter is next to Indira Point, India's southern most tip).

Number of persons evacuated: 800 from Car Nicobar to Chennai and Port Blair, including 31 tourists from the Havelock Islands.

Ships/boats deployed: nine Navy ships; five Coast Guard ships; two merchants ships (from Chennai and Kolkata).

Other assistance provided: medical camps, air dropping of food and water packages, search and rescue (especially in many of the smaller islands that are usually uninhabited); aerial reconnaissance by Dornier and copters; 100 army personnel and 50 paramilitary personnel landed at Carnic (Car Nicobar) for relief and rescue operations; 8,000 litres of aviation fuel shifted to Carnic airbase for MI-8 choppers' operations; Indian Oil Corporation has been asked to maintain a stock of 1,900 kilolitres of aviation fuel at Port Blair.

Similar operations were also conducted over Tamil Nadu, Andhra Pradesh, Pondicherry, Kerala, Sri Lanka, and the Maldives, though the A&N operation was the largest.

While all the operations fall under Operation Sea Wave's auspices, the operations in other areas have been given specific names -- Operation Mother for the East Coast; Operation Castor for the Maldives, and Operation Rainbow for Sri Lanka.

"Right after the disaster, our ships patrolled the seas, searching and rescuing people both at sea and along the coast," the armed forces source said. "Also, our men from the ships would land on the coast to render immediate assistance. The IAF helped fly in supplies and necessary equipment as quickly as possible."

As the effort moves towards rehabilitation and reconstruction, the army is getting involved. "Army engineers have been called in to rebuild bridges or make temporary bridges till the civilian authorities can rebuild them to allow people to resume their lives. As we move more inland from the coastal areas to provide relief, the army is doing the needful," he said.

"It is not just the armed forces," the source pointed out. "We are also witnessing cooperation between the armed forces and the civilian authorities to help ordinary citizens resume their normal lives. The armed forces are doing much of the work now, but slowly and surely, the civilian authorities will take over, which is as it should be."

The military suffered a tragic loss when the tsunami swept over Car Nicobar, which houses an IAF airbase. Some 76 IAF men and officers lost their lives.