Washed-out roads, broken bridges and widespread flooding has left swathes of Sri Lanka s eastern seaboard and Aceh s west coast inaccessible more

Transcription

1 Washed-out roads, broken bridges and widespread flooding has left swathes of Sri Lanka s eastern seaboard and Aceh s west coast inaccessible more than a week after the tsunami hit.

2 A bottleneck of aid materials from around the globe has been building up in the provincial capital, Banda Aceh, and other distribution centers throughout the tsunamistricken area, with relief workers unable to distribute it to outlying areas because much of the region s infrastructure has been destroyed by the earthquake. It is absolute chaos. Titon Mitra, Care International.

3 United Nations relief personnel request helicopter support. The challenge will be getting vital supplies to people who live in the least accessible areas. Because C-130s and other fixed-wing aircraft require long runways, survivors in remote tsunami-struck areas must await deliveries from helicopters. U.N. Relief Coordinator

4 The U.S. responds: Three disaster relief assessment teams inserted. U.S. Navy Abraham Lincoln Strike Group, with 15 Sikorsky Seahawk helicopters (HH-60H, SH-60B, SH-60F, and SH-60S), dispatched from Hong Kong and arrives off the coast of Sumatra on January 1. 15th Marine Expeditionary Unit with 28 transport helicopters (CH- 53E Sea Stallions, CH-46E Sea Knights) and four AH-1W Supercobras capable of performing reconnaissance missions, embarked on U.S. Navy Bonhomme Richard Strike Group, dispatched from Guam and arrives off Sumatra on January 4.

5 Republic of Singapore offers use of its air and naval bases for staging and logistics points. Plus: Singapore deploys 200 people to Phuket, Thailand and 600 people to Sumatra for disaster relief, along with six Boeing CH-47 Chinook heavy helicopters and two Super Puma medium helicopters operating from a 6,000-ton helicopter landing ship equipped with medical and surgical teams off Sumatra coast near Medan and Banda Aceh. Singapore dispatches two CH-47 Chinooks to support relief efforts at Meulaboh, Indonesia, where relief workers estimate more than 10,000 people lost their lives. Access to Meulaboh is primarily by coastal roads, which have been completely wiped out. City s only military airfield has been destroyed.

6 Australian Defense Force dispatches amphibious landing platform HMAS Kanimbla to Aceh, with two Sikorsky S-61 Sea King helicopters, to perform humanitarian relief missions. Australia s Army Aviation Training Center Oakey also deploys seven Bell UH-1E Iroquois helicopters, plus support personnel, to Medan, Aceh province, Indonesia, to coordinate Australia rescue efforts, establish a field hospital, and ferry humanitarian aid to tsunami survivors. We are already witnessing a logjam at key airfields and we need to ensure that we can get essential aid, supplies and assistance into the affected areas as quickly as possible. Australian Defense Minister Robert Hill, December 31, 2004.

7 Indian Air Force mounts massive relief effort in tsunami-affected areas of south India and Nicobar Islands, Sri Lanka and Maldives, as part of Operation Sea Wave. Eight Mi-8 transport helicopters and eight Mi-17 transport helicopters lift over 5,000 tons of relief materials during the first week of operations.

8 Helicopters perform a wide range of missions in disasters: Provide reconnaissance to ascertain the extent of damage; Investigate possible access routes; Fly in specialists, including relief coordinators and medical personnel, together with essential equipment; Transport personnel and equipment to rough terrain and inaccessible locations; Deliver water, food, medicine and other relief supplies; Conduct rescue operations; Fly out injured or endangered persons.

9 With roads blocked by gruesome debris and bridges washed out many of Indonesia s island villages had become islands themselves and choppers have become just as valuable as the medicine and food they re carrying. CBS News Correspondent Lee Cowen, January 2, 2005.

10 Getting clean water and sanitation to hard-hit areas is urgent to prevent disease outbreaks.

11 Medical personnel and sailors assigned to USS Abraham Lincoln carry a refugee off an SH-60B Seahawk enroute to a medical tent for treatment in Aceh.

12 U.S. Navy helicopters are transporting supplies, bringing in disaster relief teams and supporting humanitarian airlifts to tsunami-stricken coastal regions.

13 1.5 million children dead, missing or injured World Health Organization 500,000 injured, 1 million displaced, 2 million in desperate need of food and water United Nations

14 The military helicopters are worth their weight in gold to us. Jan Egeland. United Nations Relief Coordinator. CBS News, January 2, 2005.

15 Helicopters save lives - every day. These unique machines pick injured people from rooftops and roads, save them from sinking ships, pluck them from burning buildings and capture them from raging floods - or in this case tsunamis. They deliver food, water, medicine and relief to the needy in remote areas lacking any infrastructure. But the helicopter community can be more effective: If Governments include rotorcraft in their national, regional and local planning for disaster relief (helicopters are not a part of current U.S. government DHS disaster planning); and If the Federal government invests in additional rotorcraft research to improve helicopter performance, reduce noise and vibration, assure allweather day and night operational capability, and improve affordability (NASA has effectively eliminated rotorcraft research and closed national wind tunnel testing capability).