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NATO, United Nations Expand Airlift to Pakistan Earthquake Zone

07 November 2005

U.S. official to discuss relief mission during Internet chat November 16

By Vince Crawley
Washington File Staff Writer

Washington – NATO and the United Nations refugee agency are expanding their emergency airlift into Pakistan, where at least 73,000 people are estimated to have died in the October 8 earthquake and its aftermath.

During the Muslim Feast of Eid, Pakistan authorities temporarily reduced the pace of incoming relief flights.  Full-scale air operations are scheduled to resume November 8, according to NATO’s Euro-Atlantic Disaster Response Coordination Center. The center is coordinating relief operations for 40 NATO member and partner nations.

NATO and the U.N. High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) on November 3 agreed to expand their air operations as emergency teams race against the approaching winter to assist 70,000 injured earthquake victims and to provide shelter for more than 1 million people believed to be homeless.

Along with moving emergency supplies from Incirlik Air Base in Turkey, NATO has agreed to airlift additional supplies from UNHCR warehouses in Denmark and Jordan. This second phase of the relief effort is intended to deliver more than 320,500 additional blankets, 15,000 plastic sheets, 995 tents, more than 30,000 mattresses and 1,840 kitchen sets. In total, UNHCR is delivering more than 500,000 blankets and more than 20,000 tents.

In a November 16 Internet chat, John M. Koenig, charge d’affaires of the U.S. Mission to NATO in Brussels, Belgium, plans to discuss U.S. participation in the massive multinational relief mission.

The United States has offered 33 military helicopters and is participating in around-the-clock cargo flights from Europe to the disaster zone. American helicopters have flown more than 1,300 sorties, delivering more than 2,100 tons of international relief supplies and evacuating close to 9,000 people needing urgent medical attention.

U.S. military and civilian cargo aircraft have airlifted more than 4,000 tons of medical supplies, food, shelter material, blankets and rescue equipment to Pakistan. The U.S. government also has committed $156 million to Pakistan for earthquake assistance. (See fact sheet.)

Nearly 1,000 U.S. military personnel have deployed temporarily to Pakistan, including 223 soldiers with a Mobile Army Surgical Hospital (MASH), 125 Navy Seabee construction specialists and 64 emergency communications technicians. Six U.S. military ships have delivered heavy equipment and supplies to the port of Karachi, Pakistan. (See related article.)

John Koenig’s November 16 Internet chat is scheduled for 9 a.m. EST (1400 GMT). A career member of the U.S. Foreign Service since 1984, Koenig assumed the role of chargé d’affaires of the U.S. Mission to NATO in March. His biography is available on the U.S. Mission to NATO Web site.

To participate in the webchat, please register at iipchat@state.gov. If you already have participated in a previous chat, there is no need to register again. Just use the same name and password. You may identify yourself by the user name of your choice.  As always, your questions and comments are welcome in advance of the program and at any time during it.

For additional information, see Southeast Asia Earthquake Response.

More information is also available at the NATO Web site.

(The Washington File is a product of the Bureau of International Information Programs, U.S. Department of State. Web site: http://usinfo.state.gov)