Monday, October 31
MEDIA REPORTS THAT COPTERS WILL STOP FLYING IS BUNK BUT THE UN NEEDS TO GIVE MORE
| October 31, 2005 Islamabad, October 30, 2005 - The United States is aware of recent stories in the media suggesting that relief helicopters will soon stop flying if donations to the U.N. effort don’t increase. The US Embassy offers the following by way of clarification. • Relief operations are continuing on an accelerated basis, with increasing quantities of relief supplies being airlifted on a daily basis. • The day after the earthquake, four US-provided helicopters already in Pakistan mobilized to the affected areas. Two days after the earthquake, eight U.S. military helicopters arrived in Pakistan and begin immediately flying food, medicine, water and other relief supplies to the areas most severely damaged by the earthquake. • In the three weeks since then, U.S. Helicopters have flown nearly 800 sorties to quake stricken areas, and have delivered more than 2.8 million pounds of relief supplies. Additionally, they have evacuated nearly 3,000 people injured by the earthquake. • During this operation, we have increased and plan to further increase the number of U.S. Helicopters to respond to the requests and needs of the Pakistani Government and Military. Today, 21 U.S. military helicopters are involved in relief missions, flying dozens of sorties each day to relief centers and villages throughout the quake stricken area with more expected within coming days. • In addition, the US Government has contributed $3.5 million dollars to the UN-WFP airlift through UNHAS, the United Nations Humanitarian Air Service. Of $5 million the US has contributed to ICRC, up to $2 million is also being used to support airlift capacity in Pakistan. • The U.S. has no plans to diminish its support of its ally Pakistan in its hour of need and hopes the international community can step up with great increased commitments to support the relief efforts. • We agree with the UN that the international community needs to greatly step up its level of support to Pakistan in order to provide humanitarian relief during what will be a protracted relief operation lasting months. We would urge all donors to do the same. Weblog LINK |
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