US-Navy Flying Aid, German Army Still Looking Things Over

"Spiegel-Online" ^ | January 3, 2005 | Andreas Lorenz

[longjack]

SPIEGEL ONLINE - 03. Januar 2005, 14:13
URL: http://www.spiegel.de/panorama/0,1518,335304,00.html

Tsunami Catastrophe
 
US-Navy flying aid missions, Bundeswehr still looking things over

From Banda Aceh reports Andreas Lorenz

While advance teams of the Bundeswehr are still camping in three tents at the Banda Aceh airport , Americans, Australians and New Zealanders have already flown tons of aid packages into the disaster areas. Most places are hard to reach, however, the survivors wait desperately for drinking water and rice.

REUTERS

US-Soldier, child saved: "The best day of my flying career"

Gray helicopters of the U.S. Army take off non-stop towards remote coastal villages to deliver food and medicine. They are stationed on the aircraft carrier "Abraham Lincoln", which sailed from Hong Kong and is anchored off Banda Aceh. Some of the helicopters, 12 in all, bring injured to Banda Aceh. Marines run around, the helicopters are directed in only by hand signals.

The pilots have been greeted enthusiastically in the devastated villages. A Reuters reporter writes that people who have waited for help for a week blew kisses towards the Americans and celebrated them openly. "Yesterday was the best day of my flying career", Seahawk pilot Joel Moss is quoted as saying.

Click on a photo,
to start the slide show (25 Photos).

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AP

US-Soldier, Flood Victims: "The aid supply is completely uncoordinated"

The soldiers report refugees by thousands who are on the way to the provincial capital. However, many people had also saved themselves by simply moving to higher laying areas, and had set up provisional shelters there. The tsunami victims reported of many injured who still haven't been cared for.

Yesterday the first American marine doctors were sent to Meulaboh. The doctors couldn't pronounce the name of the town, so they simply called it "Malibu". Now they will start their mission in the hospital there.

Deaths by Country
Indonesia	94.081
Sri Lanka	29.744
India	15.160
Thailand	5046
Somalia	200
Burma	90
Malediven	74
Malaysia	74
Sweden	60
Germany	60
Great Britain	40
France	22
Norway	21
Japan	21
Switzerland	16
USA	15
Italy	18
Finland	14
Australia	12
Tansania	10
South Korea	11
Singapore	9
Denemark	7
Belgium	6
Netherlands	6
Canada	5
Austria	7
South Afrika	7
Poland	4
Israel	4
Bangladesh	2
Brazil	2
Kenya	1
New Zealand	1
Croatia	1
Taiwan	1
Russia	1
Czech Republic	1
China	1
*Official Numbers

The Bundeswehr, in contrast, is far from ready for deployment. On a "reconnaissance mission", we want to first get an overall view, what "we can offer", explained lead doctor Jürgen Canders. The reproach, that the German army showed up too late, was rejected by the medic: Further aid measures, in view of the enormous destruction, "Have to be built up appropriately for the long term". It is the main priority of the Germans, above all, to supplement and reinforce the national supply.

The German hospital ship "Berlin", which has been stationed on the Horn of Africa until now, is on the way to the island of Sumatra. The undersecretary in the foreign ministry, Klaus Scharioth, said in Berlin today that the ship was expected to arrive by the middle of next week

The Bundeswehr delegation consists of nine soldiers, among them a lieutenant-colonel in the military police. The group has pitched three little tents on the military portion of the Banda Aceh airport. This morning the German military conferred with the Indonesian army and international relief organizations. In the meantime, altogeher eight UN organizations, the International Red Cross and 21 NGOs from all over the world are in Banda Aceh.

Cander's conclusion: "The supply of aid packages is fully uncoordinated. The main problem is distribution. Helpers on the ground admit that there are many bottlenecks. It is particularly difficult to provide for the villages on the coast. Presently, large parts of the coastal strip in the west of the province are only accessible by air or from the sea, because the tidal wave washed away the only roads. Most places are heavily devastated and so far without essential help, the survivors are waiting desperately for drinking water and rice.

Military cargo planes are landing non-stop on the runway of the provincial capital. This evening a German Red Cross plane will arrive. A New Zealand Air Force Hercules stops right next to the tents of the German soldiers.

The danger that epidemics will break out still prevails in Banda Aceh. It seems certain that an enormous number of corpses is still under the wreckage or in the mud.
 

"Spiegel-Online"....US-Navy fliegt Hilfseinsätze, Bundeswehr sondiert noch"

Translated by longjack

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© SPIEGEL ONLINE 2005
Alle Rechte vorbehalten
Vervielfältigung nur mit Genehmigung der SPIEGELnet GmbH

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[longjack]

This is spectacular for our military personnel.

The headline itself is a pretty major bash on the German's efforts in the rescue efforts.

"Spiegel-Online' put our boys in the spotlight they deserve.

The German guy's comment is pretty typical, too. Twiddle your thumbs, but criticize everything everyone else is doing.

"Spiegel'" generally has good picture galleries, too. Click on a picture in the middle of the page, then follow the arrows.

longjack

[longjack]

German Ping.

[TFine80]

Regardless of what the media says about the US contribution, the people in the region will remember that the US military was there first.

[ProudVet77]

Hey, the most important thing is that gunga Dan is there now.

[DUMBGRUNT]

From the article: "The German hospital ship "Berlin", which has been stationed on the Horn of Africa until now, is on the way to the island of Sumatra. The undersecretary in the foreign ministry, Klaus Scharioth, said in Berlin today that the ship was expected to arrive by the middle of next week"

ESG5 Had just made Guam harbor when they were reassigned, and they are already on site.
It takes two weeks to come from the Horn of Africa?

[Sthitch]

Amazing, a cruise ship covers that distance faster, and they cruise only at night to let the passengers frolic during the day. I am wondering if the Hospital Ship Berlin ran out of coal.

[longjack]

The article said literally, it was expected to arrive in the 'middle of the coming week' [kommende Woche]. I translated it as next week

Maybe it is this week, if the author wrote the story Saturday, for example. It is sometimes hard for me to get the translation of that correct. They would usually say 'this' week or 'next' week, like in English.

I generally would think of "kommende Woche' as what someone would say at the end of one week, referring to the week that starts in a few days.

HTH

longjack

[Sthitch]

The Berlin

[demlosers]

That doesn't look much like a hospital ship looks more like a cargo carrier.

Now this one does:

010912-N-4868G-001 Baltimore, Md. (Sept. 12, 2001) -- The hospital ship USNS Comfort (T-AH 20) leaves Baltimore harbor in route to Earle, N.J., where it will embark Navy medical personnel before setting sail for the coast of New York. The Comfort has a crew of more than 750 Navy and civilian medical and support personnel. She also contains 12 fully-equipped operating rooms, a 1,000-bed hospital facility, radiological services, a medical laboratory, a pharmacy, an optometry lab, a CAT scan and two oxygen-producing plants. The ship also has a helicopter deck capable of landing large military helicopters, as well as side ports to take on patients at sea. U.S. Navy photo by Chief Photographer's Mate Philomena Gorenflo. (RELEASED)

[Captain Rhino]

Judging from the deck equipment and layout, the Berlin is probably a general purpose logistics ship (part cargo ship, part tanker, etc.); fairly typical ship type for a small navy.

[Dog Gone]

The Bundeswehr delegation consists of nine soldiers, among them a lieutenant-colonel in the military police. The group has pitched three little tents on the military portion of the Banda Aceh airport.

Impressive, almost a Cub Scout-size expedition.

[longjack]

Yes, but apparently 9 cub scouts are enough to know that the entire aid operation was 'fully uncoordinated'.

I was reading Wretchard's latest post over at Belmont Club after I posted this. The 'fully uncoordnated' comment sounds like it came from UN talking points. You know, it won't be done right until the Germans and the rest of the UN show it to set it straight.

If so, "Spiegel" threw a monkey wrench into the UN's rhetoric war with this article.

longjack

[SoCalPol]

The BonHomme Richard Amphibious Strike Group including
over 2,000 Marines and choppers from San Diego has reached
the area. Also the choppers off the Lincoln from San Diego
and Wed. the Hospital Ship USNS Mercy will leave from
San Diego to The disaster area.

[Dog Gone]

I am rather surprised at this criticism of the Germans and praise for the American efforts. It's totally uncharacteristic of this publication, best I can tell.

[Billthedrill]

Thanks - as always - for the translation. The American approach to this sort of thing is wasteful, ad hoc, and disorganized, and succeeds in saving lives. The UN approach is planned, efficient, and will provide precisely the food and resources these people need...after they've been dead for three days. There's a good deal to be said for inefficiency...

[agincourt1415]

Bundesperatewehr - puleeeze, you have NUTHINNNG. No airlift capability, nothing.

The Germans are pathetic, get out of the way and let the Americans do it.

[longjack]

I am rather surprised at this criticism of the Germans and praise for the American efforts. It's totally uncharacteristic of this publication, best I can tell.

"Spiegel" at times will run pro-US articles. I find them to be the 'firstest with the mostest' on current events, and they have an RSS feed, so I usually end up translating a lot of their articles.

In this case, an estimated 3200 Germans are still missing in Asia. It's an important matter to that country. Although the Germans are not missing in Indonesia, the fact that US GI's are carrying supplies where it's needed non-stop, while all a measley contingent of 9 Germans can do is b*tch about 'coordination ' problems and 'confer' with aid organizations doesn't cut the mustard.

Additionally, older Germans remember the helpfulness of the GI's after WW II and during the Berlin airlift. These shots bring back those memories, and banish the Abu Ghraib stories to where they belong, as the stupid acts of non-representative soldiers.

We're doing the heavy lifting and they're trying to talk a good game. Normal Germans see through that BS just like we do.

When the sh*t hits the fan, count on the US to be there. No talk, just action.

longjack

[longjack]

Thanks - as always - for the translation.

You're welcome.

I agree with you completely about having the rescue plan perfected and ready to be implemented three days after the last survivor has died from starvation.

Consensus building, isn't that what they call it?

longjack

[Dog Gone]

I like Germans in general, and I still hold out hope for them to reverse their socialist and pacifist tendencies over the past couple of decades. I have no such hopes for France, in comparison.

Still, it's painful to watch such impotence from one of the great powers of the last century.

[gogipper]

Hey Killjoy, what does your friend in Thailand say about this?