An A400M Atlas has delivered 17.5 tonnes of UK aid supplies for those affected by the devastating earthquake and tsunami that struck Indonesia.
According to the MoD, On board are 1,280 much-needed shelter kits and 288 hygiene kits, as part of the £3 million pledged by the Department for International Development (DFID) to the relief effort. The aircraft was also carrying 3 tonnes of Indonesian supplies, in addition to the 17.5 tonnes of UK aid.
The UK aid package includes much-needed air cargo handling equipment. This includes a forklift truck and conveyor belt that will rapidly increase the rate that humanitarian aid can be transferred off flights and distributed to affected communities. Other equipment includes transport trucks and a lighting tower generator. This will speed up the delivery of aid to those that need it most by facilitating a greater turnaround of aid-carrying flights at Balikpapan Airport.
According to a release:
“The UK has responded to information from the Indonesian government about the needs of the residents. There is a DFID team of humanitarian experts in Indonesia coordinating the response.
In addition, the UK Government has also announced it will match pound-for-pound the first £2 million raised by the generous British public to the Indonesia Tsunami Appeal launched yesterday by the Disasters Emergency Committee.”
Could things finally be changing on foreign aid rules. However even if it does not sure anymore will flow to defence.
https://www.ft.com/content/32d53c32-cbab-11e8-b276-b9069bde0956
Probably not expat, that would require a modicum of intelligence!
Is there a case where those nations that can afford to support crisis relief; to consider prepositioned supplies based in the regions at most risk of natural disasters? For the Far East, for example, such provisions could be based, possibly in Australia, Japan, South Korea, and Vietnam amongst others? Exmilitary equipment could also be channeled to these storage facilities including helicopters, a much-needed component in most cases. Each prepositioned base would receive regular contributions and run by a combination of organizations and agencies. This idea appeals to me, as it gets right to the heart of the situation and hopefully… Read more »
Australia’s Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade (DFAT) already has prepositioned relief supplies at Subang in Malaysia plus a contractual agreement with a commercial logistics provider (Palladium Group) to provide logistics personnel to manage DFAT distribution requirements and warehousing in Australia, Papua New Guinea and Indonesia. ADF airlift assets are normally on the scene within 24 hours anywhere in the South Pacific region although its curious in this case that it took some days for the first C17 to be on the ground. There seems to have been a particularly chaotic response by the local Indonesian provincial authorities and some… Read more »
Thats all our forces will be good for. Why us all the time. Do Muslims help Muslims. Theyve got the oil money.