US military aircraft and personnel supporting Pakistan's flood relief efforts achieved a significant milestone, exceeding 20 million pounds of relief supplies delivered since August 5, when US military relief flight operations in Pakistan began.
"This new milestone represents a tremendous amount of teamwork between Pakistan and US flood relief workers. Thanks to the amazing partnership and support we have experienced from the Pakistan military, we have been able to establish a hub-and-spoke system of humanitarian airlift, delivering desperately needed supplies into isolated, flood-torn communities in the north and south," said Vice Adm. Mike LeFever, US Defence Representative to Pakistan here on Thursday.
To date, US military aircraft and personnel, working in close co-ordination with the Pakistan military, delivered 20,026,620 pounds or 9,083,922.3 kg of relief supplies and provided humanitarian airlift for more than 26,000 people in the flood-affected regions of Pakistan. There are currently 26 US military helicopters and approximately 600 service members in northern and southern Pakistan supporting the government Pakistan's flood relief efforts.
In addition to humanitarian airlift, the US is providing more than $398 million to assist Pakistan with relief and recovery efforts, while USAID and other US civilian agencies continue to provide assistance to flood victims. According to Pakistan's National Disaster Management Authority, the catastrophic floods of the 2010 monsoon season exceed the magnitude of all recent disasters there in terms of the size of the affected population and widespread damage. The most recent figures from NDMA cite the number of total affected population in excess of 20 million, with 1.9 million houses damaged or destroyed, and an estimated 1,900 deaths.-PR