World relief efforts get boost
ISLAMABAD—Two additional US military CH-53 helicopters arrived Thursday,
bringing the total of U.S. military helicopters conducting relief
operations to ten.
Eight-member Disaster Assistance Response Team (DART) arrived in
Islamabad on October 12. The team’s mission is to assess humanitarian
needs, assist with targeting and coordination of U.S. assistance, and
provide technical assistance as needed.
A fact sheet issued by the Office of the spokesman for the Department of
State says that a 23-member Contingency Support Group from McGuire Air
Force Base also arrived in Islamabad on October 12 and will be involved
in planning and logistics support.
The United States’ initial $50 million relief package includes food,
water, medical supplies, blankets, tents and humanitarian assistance
personnel to assist Pakistan following the earthquake that struck on
October 8. The Department of Defense is providing additional
transportation, food, tents and other relief supplies. We continue to
coordinate with the government of Pakistan to assess needs and
facilitate distribution.
October 12, two C-17 aircraft, four C-130 aircraft, one Mi-8 aircraft
and one UC-35 aircraft arrived Islamabad carrying medical supplies,
relief supplies, water, cots, doctors, and humanitarian assistance
personnel.
According to the attached fact-sheet, issued October 12, 10 Emergency
Health Kits are scheduled to arrive in Pakistan on Friday, October 15.
Each kit serves 10,000 people for three months.
The Indian Air Force was on standby on Thursday to send a second
shipment of relief supplies for earthquake victims in Pakistan, an air
force official told reporters.
“We have been asked by the Ministry of Defence to be ready. The moment
we get instructions we will load relief materials and get airborne,” Air
Force spokesman Squadron Leader Mahesh Upasani told media men.
Upasani said he had no specific departure date but said the supplies
would be similar to those delivered on Wednesday, in the first such
airlift between the neighbours in decades.
An Indian air force Ilyushin-76 flew seven truck loads of army
medicines, 15,000 blankets and 50 tents to Pakistan after Prime Minister
Manmohan Singh offered Islamabad any help it required.
The 26 tones of aid was seen as adding new impetus to peace efforts
between the nuclear rivals struck by the quake on Saturday. The British
Prime Minister Tony Blair today announced a further increase of funds
from the British Government to help in the earthquake relief operation.
An additional 10 million pounds ($17.5 million) will be made available
and takes the UK’s total commitment to date to over $20 million. The
funds will be made available to the UN and distributed over the coming
days as an assessment of needs priority becomes clearer. Speaking on the
release of the funds Mark Lyall Grant, the British High Commissioner in
Islamabad, said; “The announcement of these funds comes at a critical
time. We have seen British personnel on the ground from the very start
of the rescue operations, pulling people out of the rubble. We have also
contributed to emergency medical aid equipment and provided 19,000
blankets, 1,000 tents, 10,000 tarpaulins. A truck loaded with some of
this equipment was due to arrive in Muzzafarabad last night”. “We are
now entering into the relief and rehabilitation phase and this money
will enable the UN and the Pakistani Government to start meeting the
most basic needs of the survivors. The challenge remains to turn this
money into practical help on the ground, something we’ve been working on
since Saturday”. “We’re doing our part and we will do more. The Prime
Minister has said today that further assistance will be made available
as needs unfold over the coming days.—Agencies |
