Chaklala Air Base, lifeline for quake affectees

It is past midnight and amidst a constant whine of jet engines, life on the tarmac at the Chaklala Air Base, hums with activity.
Under powerful lights, uniformed personnel move briskly around huge cargo aircraft and helicopters bearing flags of many countries. Fifty days after the horrific Oct 8 earthquake, initial shock of the calamity seems to be waning for some but for the specialised workforce at the Air Base there is no respite, as lives of thousands of quake survivors depend on them.
Large containers, trucks, fork lifts and piles of relief goods lie scattered on either side of the old runway, currently used as a parking place for aircraft from several countries.
While the Base has been turned into the main operational area for delivery of relief goods to the affected areas and is serving as the lifeline for the quake affected people, it has also brought old adversaries together to the aid of 3.5 millionhomeless.
The site saw Pakistani jawans off-loading an Indian Air Force aircraft, that brought 36 tons of relief for the quake affected people in AJK and NWFP, in a playback of something what Pakistan did in January 2001 for the victims of an earthquake in India.
While around 100 km north, in the disputed territory of Azad Jammu Kashmir, Pakistan offered to open five points along the Line of Control with India to help Kashmiris on either side get relief and medical assistance. Land mines were cleared as trucks carrying food, medicine and shelter crossed the hitherto “No Mans Land.”
It was yet another rare site to see the US soldiers working alongside the Iranian Air Force personnel to unload relief goods from an IAF aircraft.
“Differences apart, we are working hand in hand, all with an objective of helping the people in need,” said Lt Erick Saks of Contingency Response Group.
Describing the atmosphere as “very friendly”, he said the US troops helped the Iranians unload their mobile field hospital.
In a similar gesture of working together for the humanity was when the Cuban doctors on their way to Bagh boarded the US Chinooks as the cold war rivals the Russians rubbed shoulders with the Americans.
The scene at the Chaklala Air Base, as if from a war zone, shows on the one end, personnel from the United States Army hectically empty a huge 747 cargo jet, full of relief goods, while another Jumbo waits at the apron.
Most of these are from the United States brining in goods from the private sector, whose help was sought by President George W Bush for the relief and reconstruction efforts for the affected people.
A line of twin-rotor Chinooks sit in the dark, as relief goods are loaded in these giant helicopters, which cost around US 5000 dollars an hour to operate. These would be carrying the blankets, tents, , medicine and other goods to forward operational bases at Muzaffarabad, Shinkiari and Abbotabad in the morning.
The US which has 21 CH-47 Chinook for the relief operations, make around 25 sorties a day, carrying the relief goods to the forward bases up in the mountains. These undergo regular maintenance owing to the seemingly unending sorties.
The US military has installed a 600,000 litre fuelfarm at Muzaffarabad. This is apart from similar facilities made available by the Pakistan State OilCompany (PSO), which maintains several bowsers on site.
“This saves us lots of time and money, as earlier we had to make a 30 minutes flight back to Islamabad for refuelling,” said Col Johnson, who looks after his fleet of Chinooks.
At Abbottabad, NATO, through France, has installed a 1.2 million litre facility, besides similar arrangements made by the UNHAS, the PSO and the ICRC.
The Chaklala Air Base, the main base of Pakistan Air Force Logistics Command during the period saw unprecedented air movement since its inception and is being utilised to its maximum capacity. It accommodated a wide variety of aircraft, including the world’s largest aircraft Antonov 225, which initially caused concerns among the authorities that the huge aircraft might damage the runway.
There was also an endless stream of large Russian AN-124’s, B-747’s C-17’s and DC 10/30F’s, in addition to the smaller C-130’s.
The Base also accommodated a range of helicopters, including the CH-47 Chinooks, which can carry amaximum cargo of 22,680 kg, or 30 troops and four crew, the CH-53 Sea Stallion, the Black Hawks and Mi-17s of the Pakistan Army and many more.
According to the US Public Affairs Officer Capt Bob, the American helicopters alone have flown over 2500 sorties delivering almost 4300 tons of relief supplies to the disaster area and transporting almost 17000 people, including over 4300 people needing medical attention.
Over 180 U.S. military and civilian cargo airlift flights have delivered about 1900 tons of medical supplies, food, shelter material, blankets, and rescue equipment to Pakistan. U.S. ground support personnel in Pakistan have unloaded around 6000 tons of relief supplies from U.S. and other aircraft.
The United States which has currently deployed a little less than 1200 personnel to assist with the relief efforts, in the past week substantially stepped up its assistance to Pakistan earthquake relief, bringing the total contribution to $527 million as November 26, going well above and beyond the $510 million financial contribution pledged by the UnitedStates at last week’s donors conference.
For the survivors of the horrigying earthquake, the air base remains to be their lifeline, bringing in food, medicine and shelter from across the world to help them lead a new life.

By Shafek E Koreshe (APP)