PH Navy, PAF brings over 13M tons of relief goods from Mactan to typhoon-hit areas in Visayas

From the Philippine Information Agency (Nov 25): PH Navy, PAF brings over 13M tons of relief goods from Mactan to typhoon-hit areas in Visayas

Over 13 million tons of relief goods have been transported by the Philippine military from Mactan, Cebu to typhoon-ravaged areas particularly in Leyte province as of Friday, November 22.

Armed Forces of the Philippines – Central Command (AFP-CentCom) spokesperson Lt. Jim Alagao told media reporters over the weekend that relief goods shipped via the Philippine Navy amounted to 10.16 million tons while the Philippine Air Force via the C-130 cargo planes flew a total of 3.57 million tons of relief goods. The AFP used pounds for standard weight measurement.

“These are just relief goods the Philippine Navy and Philippine Air Force transported to typhoon-hit areas in the Visayas since the beginning. This does not include the Navy ships from five to six other countries that brought relief goods as well,” said Alagao.

Alagao said relief goods continue to be flown and shipped to affected areas even as government now is slowly shifting to the rehabilitation phase.
“Relief operations would continue and overlap the transition to the rehabilitation phase,” said Alagao.

The CentCom spokesperson said there are 30 countries that have participated and assisted typhoon-ravaged communities from food aid to medical services on top of cash and in kind donations.

Recently, AFP Chief of Staff Lt. Gen. Emmanuel Bautista flew to Tacloban City from Mactan, Cebu to personally assess and check the groundwork operations of military personnel involved in relief, clearing and recovery operations.

 Bautista also held a meeting with top officials of CentCom headed by Lt. Gen. Roy Deveraturda who is set to be assigned to the Western Command by early December.

On the same day, Cabinet Minister Justine Greening of the United Kingdom also flew in to Mactan Air Base just to transfer to a helicopter en route to Roxas City to visit the HMAS Daring, a British ship destroyer that contained also relief goods. Greening is the UK cabinet minister responsible for international aid and disaster response.

 According to Alagao, the Japanese Government also deployed three ships that carried its hundreds of military contingent to help in relief, clearing and emergency operations on top of the relief goods it sent for the thousands of typhoon victims.

http://news.pia.gov.ph/index.php?article=1051385305310