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RELEASE #15
UPDATE (Sept. 5, 4 p.m.)
PETERSON AIR FORCE BASE, Colo. – As directed by the Secretary of Defense and in accordance with the National Response Plan, U.S. Northern Command (USNORTHCOM) is supporting the Dept. of Homeland Security/Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) disaster relief efforts in the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina.
USNORTHCOM is providing and/or coordinating the following support:
New
• 374 DoD, US Coast Guard, and National Guard helicopters; and 76 DoD and National Guard fixed wing aircraft are assisting relief operations.
• In the past 24 hours, Air Force cargo aircraft flew 324 missions, moving more than 1,390 people and 431 short tons of cargo in the affected areas.
• USS Iwo Jima arrived in New Orleans and is preparing to serve as the command and control center for the forward headquarters of Joint Task Force Katrina.
• 2,596 medical patients have been moved to Federal Coordinating Centers (FCCs) at Houston, Dallas, Nashville, San Antonio, Atlanta, Birmingham, Tampa, Miami, Durham, Columbia, and Jacksonville since Aug. 30, 2005. The Red Cross has a data base of all patients and locations to which they were taken.
• Defense Coordinating Officers are now assisting state officials in both Texas, New Mexico and Arkansas with the large numbers of people relocated to those states. DCOs continue to coordinate DoD aid to FEMA and local official in Louisiana and Mississippi.
• FEMA and DoD are working with the USAID’s Office of Foreign Disaster Assistance to process various offers of aid from more than 80 countries and international organizations.
Updates
• More than 13,972 active duty members are currently supporting the disaster relief efforts in the U.S. Gulf Coast. Additional forces continue to arrive by air and ground transportation. DoD expects to have more than 15,700 in the area by Tuesday. This is in addition to the 38,146 Army and Air National Guard members already supporting operations in the area.
• 20 ships (14 Navy, 6 Coast Guard) are on station in the affected area, with three additional ships en route –USS Grapple due Sept. 6; USNS Comfort due Sept. 8.
• USS Bataan is prepared to receive patients in its hospital, and personnel are ashore assisting medical relief efforts.
• In addition to Coast Guard aviation, the total number of helicopters and fixed wing aircraft supporting rescue operations along the Gulf Coast is about 280.
• More than 63,000 people have been evacuated from New Orleans since beginning of operations.
Ongoing
• FEMA authorized up to $1 billion of logistical support from DoD to transport food, water and medical supplies.
o For the next three to five days, 480,000 Meals Ready to Eat will be delivered daily to increase supplies in the area. In addition, DoD is providing bulk potable water to meet requirements. DoD is also surging personnel and equipment to the area to aid logistics support.
• USS Harry S Truman is stationed off Biloxi, Miss., to assist with operations
• Firefighting efforts are being supported by National Guard aviation. Two specially equipped Air Force C-130 aircraft are at Naval Air Station Pensacola and will be available to fly firefighting missions beginning Monday.
• Two Water Purification Units ordered for Pascagoula and Bay St Louis.
• High Water Vehicles requested for police and soldiers
• USNS Altair and USNS Pollux are in New Orleans. Altair will provide 130 tons of water, and Pollux will provide 1.5 million gallons of fuel to support relief operations by National Guard troops and emergency service workers.
• Cruise ships contracted through Military Sealift Command to support FEMA’s request to relocate evacuees from the U.S. Gulf Coast area:
-- Two ships scheduled to arrive in Galveston, Texas, Sept. 5 with a total capacity of 2634
-- One ship scheduled to arrive in Mobile, Ala., Sept. 8 with a capacity of 1,848
• The Dept. of Health and Human Services has 9 mobile Federal Medical Shelter facilities at military installations along the Gulf Coast. Each facility can accommodate 250 patients. Four facilities are located at Ft. Polk, Louisiana; three at Naval Air Station Meridian, Miss.; and two at Air National Guard Station Meridian, Miss.
• USNORTHCOM established Joint Task Force (JTF) Katrina to act as the military’s on-scene command in support of FEMA. Lt. Gen. Russel Honore, commander of the First Army in Fort Gillem, Ga., is the JTF-commander.
• Joint Forces Command is providing Department of Defense leased property at the former England AFB in Louisiana as an intermediate staging base to support hurricane response in the state of Louisiana. This will serve as a staging point for National Guard personnel arriving from other states to support the Louisiana relief efforts.
• JTF-Civil Support (JTF-CS) is providing a joint planning augmentation cell to provide domestic chemical, biological, radiological, nuclear, or high-yield explosive (CBRNE) consequence management planning capabilities to JTF-Katrina.
• Maxwell Air Force Base, Ala.; Naval Air Station Meridian, Miss.; Barksdale Air Force Base, La.; Alexandria, La.; Ft. Polk, La.; and Keesler AFB, Miss., have been designated as operational staging areas to expedite the movement of relief supplies and emergency personnel to affected areas.
• USNORTHCOM’s 24-hour Joint Operations Center in Colorado Springs, Colo., has been augmented with additional personnel to facilitate any additional requests for assistance that may come from FEMA representatives.
The impact of providing such assistance will not adversely affect military preparedness. The DoD is fully engaged in supporting the massive interagency effort to save lives, reduce suffering and protect the infrastructure of the homeland. For more information on USNORTHCOM involvement in national disaster relief efforts, log onto our website at www.northcom.milor contact USNORTHCOM Public Affairs, at 719.554.9618. To contact Joint Task Force Katrina Public Affairs, call 601.558.4214
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