US Relief Efforts Winding Down in Quake Hit Areas of Pakistan
Two more Chinook helicopters departed from Pakistan as reconstruction efforts turn to land transport to deliver reconstruction materials, a US Embassy statement revealed.
Currently, six US CH-47 Chinooks are in Pakistan and will operate until March 31. At the beginning of relief efforts in October, up to 21 US helicopters were delivering supplies. As relief efforts progressed, the US matched the airlift capacity with humanitarian assistance requirements and reduced the number of helicopters to 12 through the winter months and the rainy season. With the arrival of spring, the build-up of supplies at distribution centres and with the reopening of roads to the affected areas, the US helicopters were no longer essential to relief operation.
“We maintained 12 Chinook helicopters through March to ensure that we had sufficient capacity to move supplies if roads became inaccessible due to rain and mudslides,” Lt Col Aaron Aldridge, the director operations for the US Military Disaster Assistance Centre, said. “Now that we have made it through March, we are going to re-deploy the additional helicopters,” he added.
According to the Federal Relief Commission, majority of roads that were closed due to the earthquake are now open.
Source: Daily Times
Technorati Tags: Chinook, Pakistan, US