AFP mobilizes more troops, equipment for 'Yolanda' relief work

From the Philippine News Agency (Nov 12): AFP mobilizes more troops, equipment for 'Yolanda' relief work

With the government mobilizing all available resources in order to repair the damage caused by super typhoon "Yolanda," the Armed Forces of the Philippines said on Tuesday it is deploying more troops and aerial assets to augment the ongoing humanitarian assistance and disaster relief (HADR) operations in Tacloban City, Leyte.

As this developed, Lt. Col. Ramon Zagala, AFP Public Affairs Office chief, said the military deployed additional five helicopters to augment the six already performing HADR operations in the area.

He added that the use of choppers in Tacloban City to deliver relief goods will serve as a stop-gap solution until such time the additional transportation assets arrive.

Zagala said that land assets are also on its way as 11 M-35 trucks left at 4 a.m. Tuesday from the Philippine Army Headquarters in Fort Bonifacio, Taguig City en route to Tacloban City to assist in the delivery of relief goods to remote areas in Eastern Visayas.

Once they arrive in Tacloban, the trucks will be under the operational control of the AFP Central Command.

Meanwhile, the second batch of the Philippine Army’s 525th Engineering Combat Battalion, together with the 1st Special Forces Battalion, left Villamor Air Base, Pasay Tuesday morning to augment the first batch of troops who left Manila together with their equipment Monday via a Philippine Air Force C-130 aircraft.

As of Monday, there were 300 combined military engineers and Special Forces troops conducting road clearing in Tacloban.

Zagala said the AFP is also allocating another 700 personnel to augment the troops.

The 523rd Engineer Construction Battalion from the Northern Luzon Command is also en route to the Central Command to aid existing troops in their HADR operations as well as to provide assistance in road clearing operations, support ongoing evacuations, and assist in efforts to restore peace and order in the area.

Two Navy boats, DF-341 and DF-352, on the other hand, delivered goods to the islands and coastal towns of Aklan and northern Iloilo coming from the Department of Social Welfare and Development-Region 6.

Two logistical hubs in Panay were also established last Saturday -- one based in IloIlo City and the other in Roxas City -- conducting an average of three to four sorties by five helicopters in the areas of Capiz and northern Iloilo.

Moreover, troops from the 82nd Infantry Battalion and 61st Infantry Battalion with M-35 trucks are continuously conducting relief and rescue operations in Antique, northern IloIlo and Aklan since Saturday.

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