Photo By Master Sgt. Christopher Boitz | Pallets of Halal meals are unloaded onto a truck bed as part of a humanitarian relief...... read more read more
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BAGRAM AIRFIELD, Afghanistan - A U.S. Air Force C-130H delivered international assistance Saturday to Islamabad, Pakistan, in response to catastrophic monsoon flooding in that country.
The first flight, flown by the 455th Air Expeditionary Wing from Bagram Airfield, Afghanistan, delivered nearly 8,000 Halal meals. Halal meals are similar to the U.S. military's packaged ready- to-eat meals and they're prepared according to Islamic tradition.
A follow-on C-17 Globemaster III flight, flown by the 385th Air Expeditionary Group out of Bagram Airfield, delivered more than 44,000 of the Halal meals in the early hours of Sunday morning.
Hassan Zulfiqar, the director of Pakistan's National Disaster Management Authority met the aircraft as they delivered the much needed supplies.
"Monsoon rains have caused a lot of flooding," Zulfiqar said. "Almost one million people have been affected and thousands of people are marooned in flooded areas. They need immediate assistance, especially food and medicines," he said.
Pakistani relief efforts have been on-going since the floods hit, but the 455th's C-130H flight was the first international assistance to make it on the ground.
"As far as foreign assistance is concerned, this is the first flight," Zulfiqar said. "The Pakistani government has already started relief efforts and have begun to distribute relief items from our warehouses to the affected people.
"The U.S. relief supplies are going to help a great deal," he said. "We hope this assistance provided by the United States will be a sustained effort in the days to come and hopefully it will not be the last relief consignments. I think it's going to be a great help," the NDMA official said.
Capt. Robert Dodson, the C-130H aircraft commander, said the mission was a complete success.
"We had a quick response from the time we were notified to the time the pallets were on the airplane," the captain said. "The whole reason why we're here is to help others when we can and the whole crew is happy to do it."
According to a press release issued Saturday by Anne W. Patterson, the U.S. Ambassador to Pakistan, the U.S. government will continue to send assistance for flood relief efforts in the country.
"The United States supports Pakistan's emergency relief efforts on behalf of people affected by recent monsoon floods," Ambassador Patterson said.
In addition to the more than 50,000 Halal meals, the U.S. is also responding to Pakistan's National Disaster Management Authority's specific request for:
Four Zodiac inflatable rescue boats, which are designed and built for lightness and speed on rapidly flowing waters;
Two water filtration units, which provide pumping, purification, storage and distribution. Each unit can fulfill the daily water requirements of up to 10,000 people;
Twelve pre-fabricated steel bridges that can temporarily replace highway bridges damaged by flooding in Peshawar and Kurram Agency. The Provincial government and Pakistan's military are coordinating their efforts to ensure the use of these bridges.
| Date Taken: | 08.01.2010 |
| Date Posted: | 08.02.2010 12:46 |
| Story ID: | 53828 |
| Location: | BAGRAM AIR FIELD, AF |
| Web Views: | 105 |
| Downloads: | 83 |
This work, The 455th AEW delivers first international relief in response to Pakistan flooding, by Andrew Nystrom, identified by DVIDS, must comply with the restrictions shown on https://www.dvidshub.net/about/copyright.
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