Indo-Asian News Service
NEW DELHI, INDIA, September 6, 2005: In a significant turnaround from the days when it accepted foreign aid to cope with natural disasters, India is rushing 25 tons of relief materials to parts of the US devastated by Hurricane Katrina. An Il-76 transport jet of the Indian Air Force (IAF) will carry the relief supplies to New Orleans in the US, an IAF spokesman said in the Capital on Tuesday. “This will be the first supply mission from India for the Katrina-affected parts of the US,” he said. The relief supplies include 50,000 first aid kits, small tarpaulins, blankets, 25,000 cots and pillows and 500,000 packets of rations. “The Il-76 is expected to depart from Palam airbase on Wednesday in the morning hours. The aircraft will carry 25 tons of relief material that will reach the US on Thursday,” the spokesman said. The jet will fly to New Orleans via Doha, Cairo, Lisbon and Boston. Group Captain R. Sharma, commanding officer of the IAF’s 44 Squadron, will head the relief mission. The headquarters of India’s Integrated Defence Staff, a tri-services formation, is the coordinating agency for the mission under the auspices of the ministries of defence and external affairs, the spokesman said. In the aftermath of the December 26 tsunami, India had surprised major powers like the US by being the first nation to rush relief materials and medical supplies to countries like Sri Lanka, the Maldives and Indonesia. The Indian Navy had then converted some warships into floating hospitals and also established relief camps in Sri Lanka and Indonesia.
The Associated Press reports that Mexico is also sending relief. Carrying water treatment plants, mobile kitchens and supplies to feed victims of Hurricane Katrina. The trucks, carrying 195 unarmed soldiers, officers and specialists, will apparently be used to provide water and hot meals for people evacuated from the New Orleans area. The convoy includes two mobile kitchens that can feed 7,000 people a day, three flatbed trucks carrying mobile water treatment plants and 15 trailers of bottled water, blankets and applesauce. It also includes military engineers, doctors and nurses.