NATO aircraft reach flood-hit areas

Message Topic Search Topic Options Post Reply Create New Topic Printable Version Translate Topic

   ISLAMABAD: The first NATO cargo 
aircraft carrying relief goods for  survivors of the devastating floods 
in Pakistan on Sunday arrived at  the military Chaklala Airbase. 

In
 response to a request by the  government of Pakistan, the NATO had on 
Friday decided to provide  airlift and sealift for the delivery of aid 
to Pakistan floods  survivors. 

The NATO yesterday started to 
airlift about 500  tonnes of relief supplies from Europe to Pakistan, 
where about eight  million are in need of emergency aid. 

A 
Trainer Cargo  Aircraft of the NATO Airborne Early Warning and Control 
Force  transported relief goods donated by the Republic of Slovakia and 
will  conduct a humanitarian relief mission to Pakistan in support of 
the  flood humanitarian efforts in that country. 

Maurits 
Jochems,  NATO Deputy Assistant Secretary General for Operations, said 
the  alliance's airlift of relief supplies to Pakistan "is in response 
to a  request for humanitarian assistance from the Pakistani 
authorities�. 

Yesterday�s  first cargo flight "is part of the 
international community�s overall  efforts to help Pakistan in this 
major humanitarian disaster," he said. 

The  flight departed from
 Geilenkirchen airbase in Germany to Islamabad with  relief goods. On 
board are tonnes of tents, blankets, water pumps,  power generators and 
other relief goods donated by Slovakia. 

More  NATO flights to 
deliver humanitarian aid from the alliance's member  nations, its 
partners and international aid organisations are expected  to follow in 
the coming days. 

NATO's support to the flood relief  operations 
will be conducted in accordance with specific requests from  the 
Pakistan authorities and in coordination with other stakeholders  
engaged in the humanitarian relief efforts. 

Since the first  
request for humanitarian assistance by the Pakistani authorities in  
early August, The Euro-Atlantic Disaster Response Coordination Centre at
  NATO Headquarters in Brussels has been acting as a clearing house for 
 humanitarian assistance offered by Allies and partner nations. 

NATO's
  support to the relief operations in support of the humanitarian  
disaster in Pakistan will continue to be implemented in full  
coordination with the Pakistani authorities. During the past week, NATO 
 has been preparing to set up a "clearing centre" at an air base in  
Pakistan to handle the relief supplies from Europe, German NATO General 
 Egon Ramms said in an interview this weekend. 

"We want to  
bring the aid supplies to the country, but their distribution will be  
left to the Pakistani government and the Army," the General said. 

The
  NATO airlift comes as donors pledged more assistance for the victims 
of  the worst natural disaster in Pakistani history following the 
special  session of the United Nations General assembly last week. 

 The  UN estimates that as many as eight million people are in desperate
 need  of assistance as the fury of the floods, which began more than 
three  weeks ago, has shifted to southern Pakistan. 

Pakistan has
 been  hit by the worst floods in 80 years, which have inundated one 
fifth of  its land, killed around 2,000 people and impacted an estimated
 20  million people of which about 3.5 million children are in need of  
emergency aid. 