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
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[killjoy]

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

I have been relaying the posts on here to her. She was very happy when I told her about our efforts in Sumatra. She has also been telling other people what the US is doing when she hears someone mention it. Most of them have commented something like, "It is better they are in Indonesia/Sumatra because they need the help more".

I have been posting updates on the following thread:

http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1310848/posts

[gogipper]

Great! That is very meaningful that she is providing that information to those around her. That is a very dramatic link you included, thank you.

[gogipper]

Great! That is very meaningful that she is providing that information to those around her. That is a very dramatic link you included, thank you.

[Michael81Dus]

You are right, "the Germans" have nothing. Nothing in regard to help after disasters thousands miles away from the fatherland. The German Federal Armed Forces used to be a homeland defense army for decades, considering that the Soviets stood just an hour away of the Rhine River. Therefore, the Bundeswehr had lots of high-equipped ground forces and tanks - exactly what nobody needs after 1990. The Bundeswehr is slowly changing into a peace-keeping maybe eben peace-enforcing army. And this is quite new for Germany, which has even raised concerns that sending medical servicemen to Somalia in 1994 could violate the constitution. It isn´t easy to transform the armed forces when the defense budget is getting smaller and smaller... however, the soldiers serving in the Bundeswehr are great people and they´re doing their very best to accomplish their missions, despite the politicial/financial struggle.

Michael
(The author of this post is officer in the Reserve of the German Luftwaffe)

[agincourt1415]

Sorry about my post, I served in the 50TFW at Hahn Air Base, and the German Citizens around our base were the best, and at the time, (late 70s), very supportive of our mission.

Its not the fault of the members of the Bundeswehr and I enjoyed all my interactions with the Luftwaffe and ground forces.

The whole of Europe needs a better defense budget.

[Michael81Dus]

Agreed. No offense taken.

[Michael81Dus]

And thank you for having defended the freedom of the western world and my country. Without the service of you and your comrades, I wouldn´t be in a free and united fatherland today!

[nw_arizona_granny]

This is an excellent report on what is really happening, in the efforts to get the supplies to where they are needed.

The slide program is the best that I have watched.

It is always exciting to see the way that even in the worst of conditions, the uses of wonderful bright and clear colors in the fabrics they choose to wear.

Longjack has put a lot of work into doing this translation,
well done, thank you.

Please keep me in mind if you translate other articles.

[Velveeta]

bump!

[TXnMA]

I heard early on that the US was going to use our awesome seaborne amphibious assault capabilities to reach isolated areas with massive support. Was that a false report?