India has launched Operation Brahma to provide humanitarian assistance to Myanmar following the 7.7 magnitude earthquake that struck the country on March 28, 2025. According to a press release by India’s Press Information Bureau, the relief effort coordinated jointly by the Indian Ministry of External Affairs(MEA) alongside the country’s military’s Headquarters Integrated Defence Staff(HQ IDS), Indian Army, Indian Air Force, and India’s dedicated disaster relief troops - National Disaster Response Force(NDRF), aims to deliver urgent aid to affected areas.

As part of the operation, all three branches of the Indian military are mobilising resources, assets and personnel. Four Indian naval ships including INS Satpura and INS Savitri, from the Eastern Naval Command and INS Karmuk and LCU 52, from the Andaman and Nicobar Command, carried approximately 52 tonnes of relief supplies, including emergency medical kits, food, drinking water, clothing, and other essential aid.

In parallel, two Indian Air Force C-17 strategic airlift aircraft carrying a 118-member Indian Army Field Hospital Unit and 60 tonnes of relief material have landed in Myanmar. The unit includes medical personnel specialising in trauma care, emergency surgeries, and child welfare services. An additional C-130J aircraft also arrived in Naypyitaw, delivering 38 NDRF personnel and 10 tonnes of relief cargo.

The Indian Army separately announced plans to establish a 60 bed medical treatment centre to support the overwhelmed local healthcare infrastructure. In total India is likely to have rushed approximately 140 tonnes of aid material to Myanmar by the morning of March 31 2025 with the Indian MEA confirming in a statement on March 30, that New Delhi is open to provide more aid as required.

India’s rapid response underscores its ambition to become the net security provider in the Indian Ocean region and for its littoral states. The provision of humanitarian assistance and disaster relief(HADR) conducted primarily by its security forces intermittently as the need arises has led to massive diplomatic capital and soft power gains for New Delhi since the 2004 Indian Ocean Tsunami.