NATO Assistance to Pakistan
We read tragic headlines:

"An earthquake with a magnitude of 7.6 has caused massive destruction in South and Central Asia. Tens of thousands of people in Pakistan, India and Afghanistan are dead and injured; millions are left homeless and hungry. Victims are in desperate need of life-saving supplies"

"Kashmiri evacuees try to reach out to a food delivery at a camp in Muzaffarabad, capital of Pakistan-administered Kashmir" 18th October , 2005. The earthquake killed at least 41,000 in Pakistan and injured 67,000, while in Indian Kashmir a further 1,300 people died."

The UK was deeply saddened to learn of the terrible earthquake in Pakistan and responded quickly to the disaster.

At the recent European Union Defence Ministers visit to RAF Lyneham last week, Defence Secretary Mr John Reid announced that four of the C130J Hercules and crews would be put on immediate standby, ready to deploy to the South Asian earthquake regions. The UK Government has activated their emergency plan. The MoD is in close consultation with the Department for International Development (DFID) about the UK contribution and has offered a range of assistance.

The North Atlantic Council approved an air operation to bring supplies from NATO and partner countries to Pakistan for assistance in the relief effort following the earthquake on the 8th October 2005. This follows a formal request for assistance by the government of Pakistan. NATO Nations have agreed to set up a strategic air bridge to Pakistan to move urgently required relief aid. This means that supplies will be lifted using NATO assets into Islamabad. The C130s deployed from Lyneham are part of the NATO Response Force and, today, 2 x C130 J aircraft have been deployed to assist with this tasking.

Group Captain Paul Oborn, Station Commander at RAF Lyneham said: “The RAF is a Force for Good in the world - that we can turn our hand to humanitarian tasks just as easily as we are effective in our military role. Once again it shows the world that the Hercules from RAF Lyneham are at the forefront of global events - we are ready for anything and keen to assist the UK Government in making a statement of support for those people devastated by the recent earthquake in Pakistan.”

In addition, a 3 man team from the UK Mobile Air Movements Squadron again based at Lyneham have already been deployed to Seville in Spain to load 2 civilian puma helicopters chartered by DFID onto an RAF C-17 aircraft from Oxfordshire airbase RAF Brize Norton.

The loading team then flew to Islamabad where they coordinated the off loading of the helicopters so that they can be used in the relief effort. A Kabul based RAF C130 K aircraft delivered 3150 ration packs and some bottled water to Islamabad for the World Food Programme (WFP) on 16 October 2005.

Related Links:

RAF Lyneham
www.raf.mod.uk/raflyneham
With thanks to Flying Officer Kerry Shardlow Media and Communications Royal Air Force Lyneham. Photograph (Hercules taking off) from RAF Lyneham and image editing by Lyneham Village Online.

World Food Programme
www.wfp.org
Freeing the World of Hunger. Among the Millennium Development Goals which the United Nations has set for the 21st century, halving the proportion of hungry people in the world is top of the list. Learn more about hunger and how WFP food aid, which reached 113 million people in 80 countries in 2004, is leading the fight against the number one risk to global health.